St. Charles Refinery
A 340,000 barrels per calendar day petroleum refinery in Norco, LA, operated by Valero Energy. Nelson Complexity 15.1.
Record
- Rated capacity
- 340,000 bpd (atmospheric crude distillation, calendar day)
- Nelson Complexity Index
- 15.1
- Status
- Operator
- Valero Energy
- Parent
- Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO)
- Supplier graph
- bomforge.com/companies/valero-energy
- Coordinates
- 30.0017, -90.4017
- PADD
- 3
Feedstock slate
- Average API gravity
- 24°
- Average sulfur
- 2.5%
- Primary grades
- Maya, Mars, WCS
Product yield
| Gasoline | 47% |
| Distillate | 32% |
| Jet | 11% |
| Residual | 4% |
| Other | 6% |
Notes
St. Charles refinery is undergoing a $230 million FCC upgrade with startup slated for H2 2026, indicating planned maintenance work. While the facility remains operational, the upgrade work would reduce utilization during implementation. The Port Arthur explosion news refers to a different Valero facility, not St. Charles.
What coverage reports
Fire at Shell’s St. Charles Parish refinery extinguished after burning overnight, officials say
2026-04-28 · 1 publisher filed it
incident 1
These are counts of what publishers filed about this plant, not an operating status. A quiet month means nobody named this facility that month, which is a fact about coverage and not about the plant. Where this site states how a refinery is running it says so in the facts table above, from the curated dataset, and cites it there.
Wire
-
General LowSt. Charles Parish: 'Incident' at Valero refinery in Norco, no off-site impacts to residents
St. Charles Parish reported an incident at the Valero St. Charles Refinery in Norco, Louisiana, which caused no off-site impacts to residents and closed Prospect Avenue.
WBRZ + 1 other outlet · matched norco, charles -
Incident HighFire at Shell’s St. Charles Parish refinery extinguished after burning overnight, officials sayNOLA.com · matched charles
-
Expansion LowValero pushes ahead with $230 million FCC upgrade at St. Charles refinery, start-up slated for H2 2026Energies Media · matched charles
-
General LowValero (VLO) Plans St. Charles FCC Unit Optimization for 2026GuruFocus · matched charles
-
General LowValero (VLO) Advances $230M Optimization Project at St. Charles Refinery | VLO Stock NewsGuruFocus · matched charles
-
General LowCrowd size forces Louisiana DEQ to postpone hearing on proposed St. Charles ammonia plantLouisiana Illuminator · matched charles
-
Expansion LowLummus Announces Successful Start-Up of CDAlky Unit at Valero's St. Charles RefineryPR Newswire + 1 other outlet · matched charles
-
General LowValero begins production at new $314 million alkylation unit at Norco refineryThe Advocate · matched norco, charles
-
Policy LowValero, EPA propose settlement of air quality standards by Norco refinery, other U.S. facilitiesThe Advocate · matched norco
-
General LowSt. Charles refinery boosts Valero Energy Partners’ soaring revenueSt. Charles Herald Guide · matched charles
-
General LowValero begins construction of $330 million renewable diesel plant in NorcoSt. Charles Herald Guide · matched norco
-
General LowValero plans to sink $1.5 billion into Norco refinerySt. Charles Herald Guide · matched norco
Every item names this facility by city or plant name in its headline or summary. Operator-only mentions never attribute. Headlines and links belong to the publishers named.