Marathon Increasing Diesel Output in Refinery Expansion

Marathon is embarking on a $3.2-billion project to expand the refining capacity of its Garyville, La., refinery by 180,000 barrels per day to a total of 425,000 bpd.

In addition to increasing its capability for additional heavy crude processing, the expansion will also result in an increased percentage of diesel in the product mix, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.

Output at the 31-year-old plant, the last refinery built in the US, will be evenly split between diesel and gasoline after plant capacity almost doubles, to 425,000 barrels a day, by the end of 2009. The standard configuration for complex refineries calls for gasoline and gasoline components to account for two-thirds of output, with diesel and other fuels making up the balance.

Although gasoline demand in the US is triple that of diesel, diesel demand is growing at twice the rate of gasoline.