Shell's original Shellburn Refinery was constructed in 1932.
In December 1945, ground was broken for the refinery expansion that was designed to efficiently use all types of crude petroleum, which was especially important during the postwar period when crude was in short supply.
The new addition to the refinery included the following units: thermal cracking, distillation, and stabilization, U.O.P. catalytic polymerization of stabilizer overhead gas, gasoline chemical refining, re-run, and gasoline sweetening.
The refinery employed special variations of new refining techniques developed and perfected by Shell chemists during the last years of World War II to produce high-grade motor gasoline and fuel oil from high-pour, waxy, straight-run residue.