Wisconsin’s only oil refinery is located in Superior, on 24th Ave. E., about a mile southwest of Superior Bay. The refinery, owned by Cenovus Energy, processes crude oil from North Dakota and Western Canada. [1] With a capacity of 50,000 barrels of oil per day, it produces over 740 million gallons of gasoline, diesel fuel and asphalt per year. [2]
The refinery opened in 1951, when it was known as Murphy Oil USA. It was purchased in 2017 by Husky Energy of Canada for $435 million. [3] Cenovus, a Canadian energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, purchased the refinery in 2020 for a price of $2.9 billion. [4]
On April 26, 2018, while still owned by Husky, the refinery experienced a serious explosion in its Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit, where crude oil is turned into gasoline and other products. The explosion resulted from the inadvertent mixing of hydrocarbons with air, creating a flammable mixture. [5]
Flying debris from the explosion punctured a nearby tank containing hot asphalt, spilling over 17,000 barrels of asphalt into the refinery. The resulting fire caused $550 million in damage to the refinery and injured dozens of workers. Fears of a hydrofluoric acid leak led to the evacuation of about 2,500 people within the city. [6] The accident also released 39,000 pounds of flammable hydrocarbon vapor into the atmosphere. [7]
A 2022 report by the US Chemical Safety Board [8] cited ineffective safeguards at Superior Refinery, insufficient employee training, insufficient safety management procedures and lack of a current review of FCC unit operating procedures. The report states that the mixing of hydrocarbons and air, which caused the explosion, was “the result of Husky Superior Refinery’s deficiencies in FCC unit process knowledge.” The ultimate cause of the explosion was a corroded slide valve. It took over five years and more than $1 billion to rebuild the refinery. [9]
Superior Refinery is part of a larger system of energy infrastructure in the city. Across 24th Ave. from the refinery is Superior Terminal, an oil storage facility and pipeline hub owned by Enbridge, another Canadian energy company. Superior Terminal serves ten pipelines – both inbound and outbound – connecting points in Alberta, Ontario and Illinois. [10] About 20% of all US crude oil imports pass through the terminal. Oil is temporarily stored at the facility en route to its destination refineries. The terminal has a storage (“shell”) capacity of 12 million barrels, making it one of Enbridge’s largest storage facilities. [11]
The longest of the pipelines served by Superior Terminal is Enbridge’s Southern Lights Pipeline, which is over 1500 miles in length. It runs from Edmonton to other terminals in the Chicago area, which connect to regional refineries in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Eastern Canada. The corridor for this pipeline is visible on air photos as it makes its way southeast across the state.
Cenovus is a big company with reported 2023 revenue of over $50 billion. Husky, the one-time owner of the Superior Refinery, is now a Cenovus subsidiary. Cenovus and Enbridge are both integrated energy companies, meaning they are involved in various aspects of the energy industry, from extracting crude oil, to transporting and refining it, to marketing refined products like gasoline. The Superior Refinery is one of about 130 petroleum refineries in the US. [12]
Industry and transportation have been important parts of Superior’s landscape since the city was founded in 1854. The city’s slogan is, “Where Sail Meets Rail.” [13] Thanks to its location on the Great Lakes and proximity to the Mesabi Iron Range in Minnesota, the Twin Ports of Duluth-Superior ship more iron ore per year (20 million tons) than any other US port. It is also a major shipping center for coal, limestone and grain. [14] These shipping operations have been going on for well over a century.
A 1934 map [15] created by the Superior Association of Commerce takes the map reader on a guided tour of the city’s industrial highlights. These include the Great Northern ore dock (“Largest in the World”), the Duluth-Superior Milling Company (“2nd Largest Producer of Semolina in US”), the Great Northern and Northern Pacific ore yards, the Superior Ship Building Company’s dry docks, several coal companies, the Berwin Fuel Company’s briquet plant (also “Largest in the World”), a Standard Oil plant, as well as foundries, iron works, bottling companies, brewers, a chair factory and door catch company (both “Largest in the World”), and even a mink and muskrat farm. From 1900 to the 1970s, a large US Steel factory sat nearby on the west bank of the St. Louis River. [16]
Superior's is a microcosm of the state as a whole. Wisconsin has long been a center for processing and manufacturing of forest and mineral products, foods and beverages, machinery, energy components and more. The Superior Refinery is just one piece of the state's vast industrial infrastructure.
Want to be notified of new Oddsconsin posts? Sign up for email alerts here.
Sources:
[1] Cenovus.com https://www.cenovus.com/
[2] The Chamber for Superior & Douglas County https://www.superiorchamber.org/list/member/cenovus-energy-superior-refinery-252
[3] Reuters, Husky Energy to buy $435 million Wisconsin refinery, August 14, 2017 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-husky-energy-refinery-calumet-splty/husky-energy-to-buy-435-million-wisconsin-refinery-idUSKCN1AU1SK/
[4] A. M. Shibu & R. Nickel, Canada's Cenovus to buy Husky for $2.9 billion as pandemic drives oil mergers, October 25, 2020 https://www.reuters.com/article/husky-energy-m-a-cenovus-energy/canadas-cenovus-to-buy-husky-for-2-9-billion-as-pandemic-drives-oil-mergers-idUSKBN27A0FD/
[5] U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Husky Energy Superior Refinery Explosion and Fire https://www.csb.gov/husky-energy-superior-refinery-explosion-and-fire/
[6] U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Factual Investigative Update April 26, 2018 Husky Superior Refinery Explosion and Fire https://www.csb.gov/assets/1/6/husky_factual_update.pdf?16317
[7] U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Husky Energy Superior Refinery Explosion and Fire https://www.csb.gov/husky-energy-superior-refinery-explosion-and-fire/
[8] U.S. Chemical Safety Board, FCC Unit Explosion and Asphalt Fire at Husky Superior Refinery https://www.csb.gov/assets/1/20/husky_superior_refinery_report_2022-12-23_(1)1.pdf?16884
[9] D. Kaeding, Superior refinery still hasn’t resumed full operations, Wisconsin Public Radio, July 31, 2023 https://www.wpr.org/health/superior-refinery-cenovus-energy-husky-gas-full-operations
[10] Enbridge in Wisconsin: Superior Terminal https://www.enbridge.com/~/media/Enb/Documents/Projects/Wisconsin/ENB_SuperiorTerminalHandout.pdf?rev=b88d55ef07814a7aaba075ba354cbad2&hash=87904A0CCB2D752CA8984D9CE653BBAE
[11] Enbridge Infrastructure Map https://www.enbridge.com/map#map:infrastructure
[12] US Energy Information Administration, Petroleum & Other Liquids https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=8_NA_8O0_NUS_C&f=A
[13] City of Superior https://www.superiorwi.gov/57/History-of-Superior
[14] Duluth Seaway Port Authority https://duluthport.com/about-us/port-statistics/
[15] Map: Twenty Five Miles of Industrial Tour Wholly Within the City Limits of Superior Wisconsin https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/maps/id/6162/rec/1
[16] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, St. Louis River U.S. Steel Site https://darrp.noaa.gov/hazardous-waste/st-louis-river-us-steel-site