The facility is capable processing as many as 62,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and is large enough to serve certain markets in Virginia and Maryland, as well as North Carolina and New York Harbor. Several processing units, a deep-water dock, a waste treatment plant, bulk storage tanks and terminal operators occupy space on the 600-acre parcel. BP acquired the one-time Amoco Corp. refinery, which sits on the York River near the George P. Coleman Bridge and has been in operation since 1956, when it acquired Amoco in 1999.

BP originally put the property on the market, along with two other PB refineries, via an official announcement on November 15, 2000. "BP has decided to focus our refining business on where there are opportunities for chemical integration growth and other significant opportunities for growth," BP's Sarah Howell explains to GlobeSt.com. "It's part of the strategy we've had since 1999 of realigning our portfolio." The other two refinery properties that have been sold are in Salt Lake City, UT and Mandan, ND. San Antonio, TX-based Tesoro Petroleum Corp. acquired the two in July 2001.