Chevron, the company behind the Caltex brand, is a major refiner of crude oil and manufacturer of petroleum products for markets worldwide. Chevron refineries profitably manufacture quality petroleum products for the Global Supply & Trading and Marketing business units. With eight proprietary (company-owned) and 11 joint venture refineries in 14 counties, Chevron has an overall refining capacity of more than 2.2 million barrels a day and produces a slate of more than 25 different products, customized to meet local requirements. It also has an upgrader and a processing complex that it operates in conjunction with Upstream.

The business unit focuses on safety and performance. Its goals are to have 0 incidents and 0 injuries and to be Number One in competitive performance.

Chevron has equity interest in nine refineries located around the Indian and Pacific Ocean, all of them as joint ventures. The refineries vary in size, configuration and ownership. The largest refinery is located in Korea and this is the third largest refinery in the world, producing 650,000 barrels per day, whereas the refinery in Pakistan only churns 43,000 barrels per day. Most refineries have fluid catalytic cracking units to increase the yield of high value products and all refineries meet the environmental standards set by the World Bank or local regulatory authorities. The refinery in Korea also manufactures a wide range of polypropylene and aromatics.

Chevron ownership of the refineries in Indian and Pacific varies from as little as 12% in Pakistan Refinery Ltd to the 64% ownership in the modern Star Petroleum Refining Company, located in Thailand, which is a joint venture between Chevron (64%) and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (36%). This refinery was commissioned in 1996 and uses the latest technology to make products of outstanding quality. The process units were designed with safety of personnel and the plant as a major parameter.

Chevron continually upgrades its refineries and plants with new operating methods and technologies, developed by sharing best practices within the group. Such enhancements increase the versatility and productivity of these facilities, enabling us to better meet customer needs and capitalize on new business opportunities.

Refineries convert crude oil into valuable, saleable products. Refineries are managed and operated by teams of people who aim to manufacture the products safely and with minimal impact upon the local environment. Crude oil is made up of thousands of different hydrocarbons that all boil at different temperatures and the refinery products of LPG, gasoline, kerosene, diesel and fuel oil are themselves mixtures of hydrocarbons rather than individual hydrocarbons.

The primary method for separating the products is distillation and "cracking" some of the heavier fuel oil increases the yield of more valuable products.

Catalytic and thermal processes are used to crack the long hydrocarbon chains to smaller chains that boil in the gasoline or diesel boiling range. Many products are treated by the removal of sulfur before they become saleable and sulfur is a major by-product of the processing of crude oil. Caltex uses crude oils from the Middle East and South East Asia in the refineries to manufacture products to meet the demands of the customer.