Energy & Science

Massive Refiners Are Turning into Biofuel Plants in the West

  • Phillips 66’s Rodeo unit to become world’s top biofuel plant
  • Gasoline loses ground to crop- and waste-based fuels
Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg
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The latest sign of a worldwide energy transition: Massive oil refineries across the western U.S. are being converted into biofuel plants.

Phillips 66 on Wednesday became the latest in a string of U.S. refiners to say it’s converting an oil refinery in California into a biofuel plant as gasoline loses its luster to fuels derived from agricultural and waste products. The company said its 120,000 barrel-a-day Rodeo refinery near San Francisco will become the world’s biggest plantBloomberg Terminal that makes so-called renewable diesel, as well as gasoline and jet fuel, out of used cooking oil, fats, greases and soybean oils.