Chevron eyeing big profits in California

Richmond, Calif.

THE LAND of liberal politics, electric cars and strict pollution controls might seem like an odd place to drop US$1 billion into a 115-year-old oil refinery.

Chevron Corp sees an entirely different landscape in California: a uniquely isolated market, closed to new competitors, where the price of gasoline can skyrocket when even one refinery goes down.

The company plans to make a fortune here - in part from the expected misfortunes of rival refineries in the state, who after Chevron's renovations will have older technologies and potentially more frequent outages.

The US$1 billion investment will go into Chevron's refinery in Richmond, an industrial city north-east of San Francisco. Analysts said the renovations, started this summer and scheduled for completion by 2019, will most likely …