Chevron Canada to sell Burnaby oil refinery and fuel distribution network

Chevron Canada is selling its 55,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Burnaby oil refinery and fuel distribution network in British Columbia and Alberta.

Spokesman Adrien Byrne said the company is working with an investment bank to put out an offer for expressions of interest to bid on the assets. The offer includes a distribution network in British Columbia and Alberta that includes two terminal facilities on Vancouver Island, 138 company-owned gas stations, interests in another 41 Chevron-branded stations and marine-fuelling facilities near Vancouver.

The request for interest does not include Chevron’s lubricants business, its stake in the Kitimat LNG project or upstream producing assets.

Chevron Canada Limited (Products Division) is the subsidiary responsible for managing the Burnaby Refinery as well as the Chevron retail and commercial fuelling operations in British Columbia and Alberta.

Located on the shores of Burrard Inlet near Vancouver, the Burnaby refinery produces petroleum products from Canadian oil and gas. With a current workforce of about 430 people, the Burnaby refinery first started production in 1935 under the Standard Oil banner, producing 2,000 bpd. The refining and marketing business has been owned and operated by Chevron Canada Limited since 1976 and has undergone several major upgrades; the most recent was last year when Chevron rebuilt the facility’s fluid catalytic cracking unit.

Chevron Canada ranks as British Columbia’s market leader in transportation fuels. Its retail network also makes Chevron Canada the largest gasoline convenience store marketer in the Canadian province.

The auction follows the sale of two gas storage facilities in British Columbia, including Aitken Creek, the largest in the province, to Fortis Inc. for USD 266 million earlier this year, part of Chevron’s efforts to streamline its portfolio and generate between USD 5 billion and USD 10 billion from asset sales over the next two years.

Byrne said Chevron Canada has received inquiries about selling the refinery and distribution in the past, which is partly why the company is now entertaining bids.

Chevron Canada Resources – the company responsible for crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids exploration, development, production and marketing in Canada – is active in British Columbia, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador and Northern Canada.

Chevron Canada Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, one of the world’s largest integrated petroleum companies. Chevron Corp. reported a loss of USD 725 million in the first quarter of this year, compared with earnings of USD 2.6 billion in the first quarter of 2015. Chairman and CEO John Watson said Chevron’s upstream business was impacted by a more than 35% decline in crude oil prices and while its downstream operations continued to perform well, overall industry conditions and margins were weaker in the first quarter of this year than a year ago.

“The company acknowledges these are challenging times and we need to be open to changing market conditions and opportunities as they arise,” said Byrne.