Safe Operations

Reducing Air Emissions
The Chevron Richmond Refinery maintains an ongoing commitment to reduce and eliminate emissions in the environment. We have new programs, new equipment, ongoing investments and a commitment to excellence. By running our plants safely, reliably and investing in state-of-the-art technology, we have reduced the amount of pollutants emitted into the air by more than 50 percent over the last several decades.

We have shut down and dismantled all of our older crude oil processing units and many other plants that did not have modern pollution reduction devices. In addition, vapor recovery at our Long Wharf facility has reduced hydrocarbon emissions by 95 percent from our ship loading operations.

We carefully inspect pumps, compressors, valves and flanges to make sure that hydrocarbons do not escape to the atmosphere. We diligently monitor and control emissions from furnaces to meet the government's strict clean air standards. There are several ground level monitoring stations that monitor the air to ensure we are not impacting our neighbors. Additionally, we remove sulfur from the fuels we use at the Refinery to control pollution.

Cleaner Fuels
According to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), motor vehicles contribute more than half of the organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide air emissions in the Bay Area. Chevron produces cleaner burning fuels, resulting in cleaner air for the entire Bay Area by reducing emissions from automobiles. We continue to pursue cleaner-burning products as one way to meet growing energy demand while continuously improving environmental performance.

Cogeneration Facility
The Chevron Richmond Refinery has its own gas turbine cogeneration plant onsite that improves plant efficiency and controls pollution. This modern facility produces enough electricity to make the Refinery nearly self-sufficient in electric power and also saves energy by producing high-pressure steam that was previously produced by less efficient steam boilers.