ConocoPhillips idled the refinery in 2011 due to poor refinery margins on the east coast. Most of these refineries were 100 years old and structured around lighter, low sulfur US crudes. That supply was long gone. And these refineries were poor choices to put in newer and more complex operations found in the US Gulf coast, where importing poorer crudes was targeted. At the time, the east coast was importing gasoline / jet from Europe.
Delta bought the refinery in 2012 on the cheap. ConocoPhillips was happy to avoid shutdown people and cleanup liabilities. Not sure what Delta had in mind, but then a miracle happened. The US shale revolution exploded, taking US production from less than 6 million barrels per day in 2011, to more than twice that now. It delivered the perfect light, low sulfur feed that matched that plant.
My AI says Delta has revamped operations and upped Jet from 14% to 32% of product output. That sounds high, but I’ll accept for now.
Buying Delta will mean it’s a player in the refinery business.
Players in the game (top ten refiners in the United States): Marathon Petroleum*, Valero, ExxonMobil*, Phillips 66, PBF Energy, Chevron, PDvSA (Venezuelan government), HF Sinclair, Koch Inc, and BP plc.
Delta only makes 185,000 barrels a day. But this smart move gives them an edge. No worries about buying at worst prices.