What do you do at the Refinery?
I am a Supply Scheduler with the Oils Planning Group. Our team looks at the business across the whole supply chain and makes the best decisions for the enterprise. My job is to ensure that all of the feedstocks (raw materials) entering the refinery are within unit specifications. We are careful to always operate within safe and reliable operating limits.
What is unique about the Richmond Refinery as it relates to your job?
One way that refineries are differentiated is by their complexity, which determines what kinds of feedstocks they can bring in. Richmond is a complex refinery and therefore can take various types of oil that require further processing to be converted into the valuable products we all use every day.
Tell us more about feedstocks.
In Richmond, we take more intermediate feedstocks to meet the demand of our Richmond Lube Oil Plant (RLOP). Chevron is the world’s leading producer of premium base oils, which are used to manufacture lubricant products like motor oil. Our refinery produces 100% of the lubricating base oils on the West Coast. When RLOP is operating at full capacity, we need to buy additional feedstock to end to the other processing units in the Refinery to keep things running smoothly.
What does an average day look like for you?
Each day I make plans for which incoming feedstocks (crude oil, gas oils and other intermediate feedstocks) go to which processing units. I also monitor a variety of factors that can change our schedule – things like weather, plant maintenance and other factors can all affect our plans. I also work with other Chevron business units in other locations to understand how the Richmond Refinery fits into the bigger picture of the company’s operations. I work with different kinds of traders, as well as Value Chain Optimization teams, to understand how we can integrate with the El Segundo Refinery in Southern California.
What’s the biggest challenge in your role?
The Refinery is never static, it’s ever changing, and my job is to plan for and keep up with the changes.
What do you love about your job?
It’s like solving a big puzzle.
What is one misconception about Chevron that you would like to correct?
People sometimes only see Chevron as a big corporate organization. But Chevron is more than that: it is more than the tanks and equipment you see when you drive by our Richmond facility. People run the Refinery – and our people work with integrity. I have many friends here in Richmond and I want them to know that the people at the Refinery work to produce the important products we use every day while also protecting our community’s safety and the environment.
