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9/2/2010 1:17pm ET
REFINERIES


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Woods Cross Refinery

On June 1, 2003 we acquired the Woods Cross Refinery, located near Salt Lake City, Utah, and related assets, from ConocoPhillips. The purchase also included a refined products terminal in Spokane, Washington, a 50% ownership interest in refined products terminals in Boise and Burley, Idaho, 25 retail service stations located in Utah and Wyoming, and a 10-year exclusive license to market fuels under the Phillips 66 brand in the states of Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. The total cash purchase price, including inventory and related expenses and liabilities assumed was $58.3 million. In August 2003, we sold the 25 retail service stations for $7.0 million, less our prorated share of property taxes and certain transaction expenses, plus $1.8 million for inventories, resulting in net cash proceeds of $8.5 million. We continue to supply the retail stations with fuel from our Woods Cross Refinery under a long-term supply agreement.

The Woods Cross Refinery has a crude oil capacity of 31,000 BPSD and is located in Woods Cross, Utah. The Woods Cross Refinery processes regional sweet and black wax crude as well as Canadian sour crude oils into high value light products. For 2009, gasoline and diesel fuel (excluding volumes purchased for resale) represented 64% and 28%, respectively, of the Woods Cross Refinery's sales volumes. The Woods Cross Refinery facility is located on a 200-acre site and is a fully integrated refinery with crude distillation, solvent deasphalter, FCC, HF alkylation, catalytic reforming, hydrodesulfurization, isomerization, sulfur recovery and product blending units. Other supporting infrastructure includes approximately 1.5 million barrels of feedstock and product tankage of which 0.2 million barrels of tankage are owned by HEP, maintenance shops, warehouses and office buildings. The operating units at the Woods Cross Refinery include newly constructed units, older units that have been relocated from other facilities, upgraded and re-erected in Woods Cross, and units that have been operating as part of the Woods Cross facility (with periodic major maintenance) for many years, in some very limited cases since before 1950. The crude oil capacity of the Woods Cross Refinery is 31,000 BPSD and the facility typically processes or blends an additional 2,000 BPSD of natural gasoline, butane and gas oil. The Woods Cross Refinery completed a major maintenance turnaround in September 2008.

We own and operate 4 miles of hydrogen pipeline that allows us to connect to a hydrogen plant located at Chevron's Salt Lake City Refinery. Additionally, HEP owns and operates 12 miles of crude oil and refined products pipelines that allows us to connect our Woods Cross Refinery to common carrier pipeline systems.


Markets and Competition

The Woods Cross Refinery is one of five refineries located in Utah. We estimate that the four refineries that compete with our Woods Cross Refinery have a combined capacity to process approximately 150,000 BPD of crude oil. The five Utah refineries collectively supply an estimated 70% of the gasoline and distillate products consumed in the states of Utah and Idaho, with the remainder imported from refineries in Wyoming and Montana via the Pioneer Pipeline owned jointly by Sinclair and ConocoPhillips. The Woods Cross Refinery's primary markets include Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming and eastern Washington. Approximately 50% - 55% of the gasoline and diesel fuel produced by our Woods Cross Refinery is sold through a network of Phillips 66 branded marketers under a long-term supply agreement.

Utah Market

The Utah market for refined products is currently supplied primarily by a number of local refiners and the Pioneer Pipeline. Local area refiners include Woods Cross, Chevron, Tesoro, Big West and Silver Eagle. Other refiners that ship via the Pioneer Pipeline include Sinclair, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. We supply approximately 15% - 20% of the refined products consumed in the Utah market, to branded and unbranded customers.


Idaho, Wyoming, Eastern Washington and Nevada Markets

We supply approximately 2% of the refined products consumed in the combined Idaho, Wyoming, eastern Washington and Nevada markets. Our Woods Cross Refinery ships refined products over Chevron's common carrier pipeline system to numerous terminals, including HEP's terminals at Boise and Burley, Idaho and Spokane, Washington and to terminals at Pocatello and Boise, Idaho and Pasco, Washington that are owned by Northwest Terminalling Pipeline Company. We sell to branded and unbranded customers in these markets. We also truck refined products to Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Idaho market for refined products is primarily supplied via Chevron's common carrier pipeline system from refiners located in the Salt Lake City area and products supplied from the Pioneer Pipeline system. Refiners that could potentially supply the Chevron and Pioneer Pipeline systems include Woods Cross, Chevron, Tesoro, Big West, Silver Eagle, Sinclair, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil.

We market refined products in the Wyoming market on a limited basis. Refiners that supply Wyoming include Sinclair, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Frontier.

The eastern Washington market is supplied by two common carrier pipelines, Chevron and Yellowstone. Product is also shipped into the area via rail from various points in the United States and Canada. Refined products shipped on Chevron's pipeline system are supplied by refiners and other pipelines located in the Salt Lake City area and from refiners located in the Pacific Northwest. Pacific Northwest refiners include BP, Tesoro, Shell, ConocoPhillips and US Oil. Products supplied from the sources located in the Pacific Northwest area are generally shipped over the Columbia River via barge at Pasco, Washington.

The majority of the Las Vegas, Nevada market for refined products is supplied by various West Coast refiners and suppliers via Kinder Morgan's CalNev common carrier pipeline system.

Light products are shipped by product pipelines or are made available at various points by exchanges with others. Light products are also made available to customers through truck loading facilities at the refinery and at terminals.

Our principal customers for gasoline include other refiners, convenience store chains, independent marketers and retailers. The composition of gasoline differs, due to local regulatory requirements, depending on the area in which gasoline is to be sold. Diesel fuel is sold to other refiners, truck stop chains and wholesalers. Limited quantities of jet fuel are sold for commercial airline use. Asphalt produced is either blended to fuel oil or is sold locally, or shipped by rail to the Gulf Coast, shipped by rail directly to our customers or marketed through Holly Asphalt to governmental entities or contractors. LPG's are sold to LPG wholesalers and LPG retailers.


Crude Oil and Feedstock Supplies

The Woods Cross Refinery currently obtains its supply of crude oil primarily from suppliers in Canada, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado via common carrier pipelines that originate in Canada, Wyoming and Colorado. In 2009, we also began receiving crude oil via the SLC Pipeline, a joint venture common carrier pipeline in which HEP owns a 25% interest. Supplies of black wax crude oil are shipped via truck.


Capital Improvement Projects

Our total approved capital budget for the Woods Cross Refinery for 2010 is $36.4 million. Additionally, capital costs of $3.3 million have been approved for refinery turnarounds and tank work. We expect to spend approximately $12.6 million in capital costs in 2010, including capital projects approved in prior years. The following summarizes our key capital projects.

At the Woods Cross Refinery, we increased the refinery's capacity from 26,000 BPSD to 31,000 BPSD while increasing its ability to process lower cost crude. The project involved installing a new 15,000 BPSD mild hydrocracker, sulfur recovery facilities, black wax desalting equipment and black wax unloading systems. The total cost of this project was approximately $122 million. The projects were mechanically complete in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Our Woods Cross Refinery is required to install a wet gas scrubber on its FCC unit by the end of 2012. We estimate the total cost to be $12 million. The MSAT2 solution for Woods Cross involves installing a new reformate splitter and a benzene saturation unit at an estimated cost of $18 million. Like our Navajo Refinery, our Woods Cross Refinery has until the end of 2012 to comply with the MSAT2 regulations.


UNEV Pipeline

Under a definitive agreement with Sinclair, we are jointly building the UNEV Pipeline, a 12-inch refined products pipeline from Salt Lake City, Utah to Las Vegas, Nevada, together with terminal facilities in the Cedar City, Utah and North Las Vegas areas. Under the agreement, we own a 75% interest in the joint venture pipeline with Sinclair, our joint venture partner, owning the remaining 25% interest. The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 62,000 BPD, with the capacity for further expansion to 120,000 BPD. The total cost of the pipeline is expected to be $275 million, with our share of the cost totaling $206 million. We expect to spend approximately $80 million in capital costs in 2010, with our share of the cost totaling $60 million.

In connection with this project, we have entered into a 10-year commitment to ship an annual average of 15,000 BPD of refined products on the UNEV Pipeline at an agreed tariff. Our commitment for each year is subject to reduction by up to 5,000 BPD in specified circumstances relating to shipments by other shippers. We have an option agreement with HEP granting them an option to purchase all of our equity interests in this joint venture pipeline effective for a 180-day period commencing when the UNEV Pipeline becomes operational, at a purchase price equal to our investment in this joint venture pipeline plus interest at 7% per annum.

We currently anticipate that all regulatory approvals required to commence the construction of the UNEV Pipeline will be received by the end of the second quarter of 2010. Once such approvals are received, construction of the pipeline will take approximately nine months. Under this schedule, the pipeline would become operational during the first quarter of 2011.



Page last updated: 3/17/10