Welcome to the Community Relations Web site of the Phillips 66 Lake Charles Refinery.

The Lake Charles Refinery, located in Westlake, La., primarily processes heavy, high-sulfur crude oil, as well as low-sulfur and acidic crude oil. The refinery receives domestic Gulf Coast and foreign crude oil.

The Lake Charles Refinery produces a high percentage of transportation fuels, such as gasoline and jet fuel, along with home heating oil. The majority of its refined products are distributed by truck, railcar, barge or major common-carrier pipelines in the southeastern and eastern United States. In addition, refined products can be sold into export markets through the refinery’s marine terminal.

The facilities include crude distillation, fluid catalytic cracker, alkylation, hydrocracker, delayed coker and hydrodesulfurization units that enable it to produce low-sulfur gasoline and heating oil. The refinery facilities also include a specialty coker and calciner, which produce graphite petroleum coke for the steel industry. Through the Excel Paralubes joint venture, the refinery produces base oils for lubricants.

Community

An Integral Part of the Community 
The Lake Charles Refinery has established and maintained a dialogue between the community and Phillips 66 in order to understand community issues in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. The Community Advisory Panel and company management regularly discuss the facility's operations, environmental and safety performance, community involvement and other issues. Recent topics have included hydraulic fracturing, legislative updates, Department of Transportation and Development projects, workforce development and the state of the refinery.

Employees and their families volunteer thousands of hours per year to assist many worthy causes in the Lake area. Our employees proudly support United Way of Southwest Louisiana, giving more than $250,000 annually.  They have received numerous fund raising awards, including top Relay Team from the American Heart Association and United Way of  Southwest Louisiana's Corporate Pride Award. The Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex also has an active Partners-In-Education program with Westlake and LaGrange High Schools. 

Visit the Lake Charles Refinery Community Advisory Panel page. 

History

The Refinery
Construction of the Phillips 66 Lake Charles Refinery was completed in 1941 at a cost of $4.5 million. The refinery was originally designed to process 7,500 barrels of crude oil per day to supply high-octane aviation fuel to World War II military aircraft. The refinery was built on a 690-acre site on the banks of the Calcasieu River just west of Lake Charles. It was the first petroleum products manufacturer in Calcasieu Parish and originally employed 100 people.

The refinery was built by Conoco which operated the refinery until 2002 when it merged with Phillips Petroleum Company to form ConocoPhillips. In 2012, ConocoPhillips spun off its downstream business, including the Lake Charles Refinery, into a new company called Phillips 66.

Today, the refinery has the capacity to process 239,000 barrels per day of crude oil and directly employs approximately 850 people.