You’ve probably seen the stacks. If you’re driving through Roxana, Illinois, or crossing the Mississippi into the St. Louis metro area, the massive industrial silhouette of the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery is basically impossible to miss. It looks like a small, metallic city. Honestly, that's because it kind of is.
But most people just see smoke and pipes. They don't realize this single site is the reason half the cars in the Midwest are actually moving. It is the largest refinery Phillips 66 operates, and as of early 2026, it is undergoing one of the biggest corporate shifts in its century-long history.
The Massive Deal You Might Have Missed
For years, Wood River was a bit of a shared project. Since 2007, it was owned by a joint venture called WRB Refining. This was a 50/50 split between Phillips 66 and the Canadian company Cenovus Energy. It worked well—Cenovus provided the heavy Canadian crude oil, and Phillips 66 ran the actual machinery.
Then came September 2025.
Phillips 66 dropped $1.4 billion to buy out Cenovus completely. By the end of 2025, the deal officially closed. Now, in 2026, Phillips 66 has total control.
Why does this matter to you? Because it changes how the fuel in the Midwest is priced and where it comes from. By owning the whole thing, Phillips 66 can integrate the refinery directly with its own pipelines and storage terminals without having to check in with a partner. They’re expecting to save about $50 million a year just in "synergies." That’s corporate-speak for "cutting out the middleman."
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More Than Just Gasoline
When we talk about the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery, the numbers are sort of dizzying. It processes about 345,000 to 350,000 barrels of crude oil every single day.
If you poured that into a swimming pool, you’d have a very big, very oily problem.
What actually happens inside those towers is way more complex than just boiling oil. The refinery is a "high complexity" site. This basically means it doesn't just take the easy, light stuff. It can handle the "heavy sour" crude—the thick, sulfur-rich oil from the Canadian oil sands that most refineries can't touch.
What comes out of the gates?
- Gasoline: Roughly 85,000 barrels every day.
- Diesel and Jet Fuel: About 70,000 barrels.
- Asphalt: If you’re driving on a new road in Illinois or Missouri, there’s a good chance the blacktop came from here.
- Petrochemical Feedstocks: These are the building blocks for plastics, medicines, and even your clothes.
- Petroleum Coke: A coal-like solid used in power plants and steel manufacturing.
The CORE Project and Why It Changed Everything
Back in 2011, the refinery finished something called the CORE project. It cost $3.8 billion. That is not a typo.
They built a massive coker unit that stands as tall as a skyscraper. This unit is what allows them to process bitumen—the thickest part of Canadian oil—and turn it into high-value transportation fuels. Before CORE, the refinery was limited. Now, it’s a beast. It increased their ability to handle heavy oil by nearly 700%.
Life in the "River Bend"
You can't talk about the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery without talking about the people who live next to it. Roxana, Hartford, and South Roxana are literally built around the fence line.
For generations, this has been the "golden ticket" job. It employs about 1,100 people directly and uses thousands of contractors. The payroll alone is over $150 million a year. When the refinery has a "turnaround" (basically a massive maintenance shutdown), the local hotels and restaurants are packed for months.
But it hasn't always been easy.
There’s a darker side to the history. For decades, legacy leaks—mostly from the era when Shell owned the site—created a massive "plume" of gasoline and benzene underneath the town of Hartford. We're talking millions of gallons of fuel sitting on top of the groundwater.
Phillips 66 has spent millions on "pump-and-treat" systems to suck that stuff out of the ground before it reaches the Mississippi River. They’ve also turned 800 acres of old industrial land into a wildlife sanctuary called Deer Park. It’s got walking trails and deer stands. It's a weird, beautiful contrast: a high-tech refinery on one side of the road and a quiet nature preserve on the other.
Why 2026 is a Turning Point
The energy transition is real, and the folks in Roxana know it. You’d think a massive oil refinery would be scared of electric cars. Sorta.
Instead of panicking, the Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery is leaning into "low-carbon" projects. They aren't just making gas anymore. They are looking at ways to incorporate renewable feedstocks into their existing units.
In April 2025, during "Good Energy Month," refinery workers spent hundreds of hours planting trees and working on a "micro-forest" at the Edwardsville Children’s Museum. It’s a PR move, sure, but it’s also a sign of the times. They know they have to be seen as more than just a source of emissions if they want to survive the next 50 years.
The Economic Reality
The refinery pays over $22 million in property taxes every year. That money basically funds the local schools and police. Without it, the "River Bend" region would look very different.
It’s a complicated relationship. People love the jobs and the tax base, but they also watch the air quality monitors on the fence line. It's a trade-off that has defined this part of Illinois for over 100 years.
What You Should Actually Do
If you’re a resident or someone interested in the local economy, don't just look at the stock price. Keep an eye on the fenceline monitoring data. Phillips 66 is required to publish real-time air quality data. It’s public info. If you live nearby, you should know what’s in the air.
Also, if you're looking for a career that doesn't require a four-year degree but pays six figures, the refinery is still one of the best bets in the Midwest. They are constantly hiring for operators and technicians, especially as the "Great Resignation" hits the older generation of oil workers.
To keep up with what's happening at the site, you can follow these steps:
- Check the Air Quality: Visit the Phillips 66 fenceline monitoring website to see real-time VOC levels.
- Monitor Community Grants: If you run a local non-profit, the refinery gives out nearly $250,000 in local grants annually through their "Good Energy" programs.
- Watch the EPA Reports: The refinery is currently working under a Clean Water Act permit that was recently renewed; keep an eye on their discharge reports to the Mississippi River.
The Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery isn't going anywhere. It is too big, too expensive, and too vital to the nation's fuel supply to just disappear. As they transition to 100% ownership this year, expect to see even more investment in the Roxana facility. It's the crown jewel of their refining fleet, and they're treating it that way.