Cherry Point Refinery

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The Cherry Point Refinery is the largest oil refinery in Washington, located in Birch Bay only a few miles south of the Canada-United States border. It is the fourth largest refinery on the West Coast and 28th in the United States.^[1] The plant was constructed in 1971 with an original capactiy of about 100,000 barrels. It currently processes over 225,000 barrels of petroleum (crude oil) per day, with 90% becoming gasoline, diesel or jet fuel.^[2] The facility is owned by BP.

Most of Cherry Point's crude oil is from the Alaska North Slope. It is brought in by petroleum tankers and delivered directly to the refinery via Puget Sound. The remainder of the crude comes from a pipeline connected to reserves in Western Canada.

The gasoline and diesel are primarily shipped to filling stations in the Washington and Oregon. Jet fuel from Cherry Point Refinery accounts for 85% of the fuel used by the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.^[3]Significant quantities of calcined coke are also produced and shipped to the nearby aluminum smelter.

Originally an Atlantic Richfield facility when it opened in 1971, the refinery became a BP operation in January 2002. BP acquired ARCO in April 2000. [1]