Main Street History: Rosemount's Pine Bend Refinery

ROSEMOUNT, MN — The small town of Rosemount is home to one of the largest oil refineries in the United States. Indeed, the plant's seemingly countless smokestacks and bright lights can be spotted for miles.

Known as the Pine Bend Refinery, the facility is operated by Flint Hills Resources. It's named after the town of Pine Bend, which was absorbed into the city of Rosemount in 1972.

Pine Bend now supplies about half of Minnesota’s motor fuel and 40 percent of Wisconsin’s, plus the jet fuel at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, according to a state report.

But how did such a massive plant come about in Rosemount? After all, Minnesota is not home to any crude oil reserves or production.

But Canada, Minnesota's neighbor to the north, absolutely does.

The Great Northern Oil Company began making plans for a refinery near St. Paul in the early 1950s, after oil sands were discovered near Saskatchewan. Ground was officially broken in 1954 on 950 acres of farmland in Rosemount, according to the company's website.

By late 1955, the refinery was opened and producing 25,000 barrels of oil per day.

The world's longest crude oil liquids pipeline system — the 3,100-mile Enbridge Mainline — was built from Alberta, Canada to the Twin Cities.

By 1960, river barges began transporting barrels of oil produced in Rosemount up to St. Paul. By 1970, the plant was producing 70,000 barrels a day.

According to the U.S. Energy Information, as of 2022, Rosemount's Pine Bend was the 14th largest oil refinery in the country in terms of output.

The plant now produces an impressive 335,000 barrels of oil a day. A pipeline from the refinery to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airpot delivers jet fuel for commercial airliners.

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