Flint Hills Resources will seek the necessary state and local permits in 2005 and 2006. The Wichita, KS-based company needs more refining capacity at the plant to meet growing demand for gasoline and diesel fuel in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. Flint Hills says demand has grown 2% a year over the last seven years.

"It has been well reported that demand for petroleum products continues to grow while US refining capacity has remained relatively flat," says Dave Robertson, president of Flint Hills Resources. "Increasing our crude oil processing capacity is essential to meet growing demand for both diesel fuel and gasoline, which is projected to grow throughout the rest of the decade in the states we serve."

The project that will increase Pine Bend refinery's crude oil processing capacity by 50,000 barrels a day when it comes online in the summer of 2007, increasing the refinery's crude oil processing capacity from about 280,000 barrels per day to 330,000. The increased capacity will help meet the growing demand for gasoline and diesel fuel in the Upper Midwest.