Phillips 66 announced it will shut down crude oil processing and pivot towards renewable fuels production by the end of February.

“The Rodeo Renewed Project to convert our San Francisco Refinery into one of the world’s largest renewable fuels facilities is expected to generate strong returns. The project’s progressing well and we expect to start up later this quarter,” said Mark Lashier, president and CEO, Phillips 66 during the earnings call.

Rich Harbison, head of refining at Phillips 66 said that: “We expect that to start up in March timeframe, which will quickly ramp up to about 50% of the stated capacity of the Rodeo Renewed Project. In April, we will finish up the PTU and continue the conversion of the second reactor hydrocrackers system and finish that up in April and then start the commissioning process, which will roll into the May timeframe and then we’ll continue to optimize performance up and we expect to be up to full rates by the end of the second quarter would be the ramp period for that.”

Earlier this month, after months of uncertainty surrounding its environmental impact, the company finally secured the green light to go ahead with the conversion project of its Rodeo refinery after clearing a court-ordered review, triggered by concerns about potential air and water pollution, initially cast a shadow over the project’s future.

Earlier in its third quarter results announcement, the company had informed investors that its Rodeo Renewed refinery conversion project is on track and will begin processing waste oils, fats, greases and vegetable oils to produce an initial 800m gallons per year.

The project, based in Rodeo, California, will be one of the world’s largest renewable fuels facilities to produce renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The total cost of the project is approximately $1.25bn.