Successful Investments in the Refinery

We recently completed $70 Million in investments that focused primarily on the refinery’s Hydrocracker, which is one of our main conversion units that helps us make gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. More than 750 Building Trades craftworkers completed the work alongside MRC personnel safely without any recordable injuries or process safety events. We had zero flaring while shutting down equipment, and minor flaring during re-start, all of which remained under reportable emission limits. We thank our employees and Building Trades contract partners for their great work!

Training and Reliability Plan Update:

"Operation Comeback"

We remain highly focused on our mission to regain the trust of the Martinez community through transparent communication and reliable, environmentally responsible operations. To improve our overall performance, we have been busy implementing our Training and Reliability Plan, which we call “Operation Comeback.” We have enhanced training and development for all MRC employees, increased training resources, expanded our leadership ranks, significantly invested in critical refinery utility systems, and have made excellent progress developing state-of-the-art refinery simulators that will enable employees to train on various operational scenarios to accelerate experience-building.  

MRC Volunteer Program (MVP) is in Full Swing

Our employee volunteer program – MRC Volunteer Program (MVP) – provides people-power for community projects and initiatives. In April, we led a clean-up of Hidden Lakes Park with community partners Friends of Alhambra Creek, Kiwanis Club of Martinez, Republic Services, and the City of Martinez. In June, we helped at the Martinez Chamber’s “King of the County BBQ” and covered a week of shifts at Loaves and Fishes. If you’re interested in partnering with us on a community service activity in the Martinez area, please reach out to us via email here.

Oil Refining 101

Interested in better understanding the oil refining process? Our national trade association – American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) – developed this short “Refining 101” video. Also, here is a summary from AFPM explaining the refining process:

The refining process begins with crude oil. Crude oil is unrefined liquid petroleum composed of thousands of different chemical compounds called hydrocarbons, all with different boiling points. Science – combined with an infrastructure of pipelines, refineries, and transportation systems – enables crude oil to be transformed into useful and affordable products.

Refining turns crude oil into usable products. Petroleum refining separates crude oil into components used for a variety of purposes. The crude petroleum is heated and the hot gases are passed into the bottom of a distillation column. As the gases move up the height of the column, the gases cool below their boiling point and condense into a liquid. The liquids are then drawn off the distilling column at specific heights to obtain fuels like gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel.



The liquids are processed further to make more gasoline or other finished products. Some of the liquids undergo additional processing after the distillation process to create other products. These processes include: cracking, which is breaking down large molecules of heavy oils; reforming, which is changing molecular structures of low-quality gasoline molecules; and isomerization, which is rearranging the atoms in a molecule so that the product has the same chemical formula but has a different structure. These processes ensure that every drop of crude oil in a barrel is converted into a usable product.

We continue to meet with community groups, provide refinery tours, and interact with our neighbors. We recently hosted refinery information booths at the Martinez Beaver Festival and John Muir Birthday/Earth Day Celebration, where we had the chance to hear from a lot of our neighbors and answer refinery-related questions. We also enjoyed giving refinery updates and hearing community feedback at the April Martinez City Council meeting, Friends of Alhambra Creek Board meeting, Kiwanis Club meeting, Rotary Club meeting, our monthly Community Advisory Panel meeting, and during a tour we gave to the Martinez Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). If you are interested in having us provide an update at your group meeting or in taking a tour of the refinery, please reach out to us via email here.

MRC Update to Kiwanis

Refinery Tour with Martinez CERT

Refinery update to MRC Community Advisory Panel

Refinery Information Booth at Martinez Beaver Festival

Refinery Information Booth at John Muir Birthday/Earth Day Celebration

22nd Annual MRC-MEF Run for Education

September 28, 2024

We are pleased to announce that Alhambra High School student Makayla Shelton designed the logo for the 22nd Annual MRC-MEF Run for Education, which is celebrating 22 years of Teamwork! The annual Run for Education is the largest fundraiser for the Martinez Education Foundation (MEF). Since 2003, the refinery and MEF have raised $1.4 Million that helps purchase school supplies and experiences through teacher grants.

We hope you'll join us for the Run on September 28th, 2024, in Downtown Martinez, and for Family Fun Night the night before, September 27th, at the MRC Clubhouse. For more information, please click here.

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