By Monique Roth
L’Observateur

GARYVILLE — Marathon Petroleum Company is hosting two open house events next week aimed at allowing residents to learn more about a proposed project at the refinery.

MCP Community Relations Coordinator Aspen Steib said Marathon is in the process of evaluating a new project that would enable its Garyville refinery to convert a by-product of the refining process — heavy residual oil — into transportation fuels. The project, a Residual Oil Upgrader Expansion Project, is nicknamed the ROUX Project.

The first meeting will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at St. Hubert’s Church, located at 176 Anthony Monica St. in Garyville. The second meeting will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Grace Church, located at 722 River Road in Reserve.

Steib said Marathon has not heard any concerns about the proposed project, but the meetings are planned to allow residents to learn more about the proposed project, meet with refinery leadership and members of the project team and have an opportunity to ask questions.

“MPC is committed to keeping the community updated and informed about the proposed project,” Steib said. “If and when the project progresses, MPC will utilize a variety of methods to keep the community informed.”

The proposed project would require the construction of new refinery processing units, including a residual oil hydrocracker and sulfur processing facilities. Pending approval by MPC’s board of directors, the units would all be built within the refinery’s existing fence line.

Company officials estimate approximately 1,400 direct and indirect jobs would be established during construction phase, and an anticipated 75 new full-time MPC employees and a similar number of full-time contract workers would be employed for ongoing operations. Pending approval by Marathon’s board and receipt of permitting, construction would begin in 2015.

The refinery estimates the project would generate between $25-30 million in additional use taxes to St. John Parish.