Refiner's fire: Uinta Basin on a quest for its own refinery

Two weeks ago, about a dozen eastern Utah oil companies met in Denver with members of Huntsman's energy policy staff and the state Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.

Producers laid out their concerns, argued their case and talked about the proposed refinery. The response from the governor's energy policy adviser, Laura Nelson, was underwhelming, Jurrius said.

"We were told we could walk over to the DEQ (Utah Department of Environmental Quality) and get a permit for a refinery," he said. "And the state has a higher fiduciary responsibility than that."

John Baza, director of the oil and gas division, attended the Denver meeting. Although Nelson had a family emergency this week and was unavailable to comment for this story, Baza said she was clear about her thoughts on a new refinery.

"If in fact the marketplace requires that a refinery be built ... if a refinery is reasonable and appropriate, then the state stands ready to do the permitting and the processing and the regulatory part of that to help achieve that goal," Baza said.

Jurrius is looking for sturdier support than that and said that Huntsman promised to protect rural economic development.

"If I am leading this state, if I am an advocate for what's happening and development inside this state, then something has to be done here," Jurrius said.

Baza says his job is not energy policy but rather supervising well permits and production data bases. "But I doubt there is anyone at state government that is going to be looking seriously at pushing for a refinery."

Besides, Baza said, the market is working as it should. "When I hear people say, 'Our drilling is going to be curtailed because we can't get the value for our product in Salt Lake City ... that represents an appropriate market response."

State incentives or tariffs against imports haven't worked here in the past, he said.

"It may benefit a specific stakeholder interest for a brief period of time, but it will cost another stakeholder's interest in the long run," he said.

"If the state's worried about about balancing all of that, we have to be very concerned about favoring, say, a producing industry over a refinery industry."

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