CITGO Day at Wrigley Field Helps Mark 90 Years of Operations at Nearby Lemont Refinery

LEMONT, Ill., August 30, 2016 /3BL Media/ - CITGO Petroleum Corporation is taking 200 local students out to the ballgame for CITGO Day at Wrigley Field as part of the CITGO Lemont Refinery’s 90th anniversary celebration. These students will be CITGO special guests for the 7:05pm Cubs game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, August 31, with each child receiving a commemorative t-shirt and Cubs dollars for snacks. All Cubs fans attending the game have the chance to join in on the fun: the first 10,000 fans will receive Cubs player decals presented by CITGO.

In addition, Ryan Karlin, the 2016 Illinois Goodwill Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), will present the ceremonial lineup card and play ball announcement in recognition of the 30-year partnership between CITGO and the MDA. Karlin lives with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), the most common fatal genetic disorder known to affect boys. While doctors continue to search for a cure for DMD, MDA research and clinical trials have enabled Karlin to remain active and healthy, reaching his goal of walking through the doors on his first day of high school on his own. CITGO is the MDA’s largest corporate sponsor, raising more than $170 million to help provide health care services and support for MDA families nationwide since the two began working together in January 1986. In 2015, the CITGO Lemont Refinery alone raised nearly $600,000 to benefit children and adults served by the Northern Illinois Chapter of the MDA.

“Since our refinery got its start nine decades ago, its refining capacity has grown to more than 167,000 barrels per day—more than six-and-a-half times its initial capacity,” said Jim Cristman, vice president and general manager of the CITGO Lemont Refinery. “This growth would not have been possible without the support of friends and partners in our community, and to show our appreciation, this entire year we have been giving to the area through events like CITGO Day. Just last weekend, CITGO served as the Official Fuel Supplier of the Special Olympics Illinois’ World’s Largest Truck Convoy, and later this fall, we will participate in the MDA Muscle Team, in keeping with our celebrations of not only 90 years in Lemont, but 30 years of working with the MDA.”

Located 35 miles southwest of Chicago, the CITGO Lemont Refinery contributes more than $300 million every year to the area’s economy and thousands of volunteer hours supporting local organizations. The refinery is capable of processing heavy crude oil into a variety of products, including approximately 7 million gallons of gasoline per day, as well as diesel, propane and aviation turbine fuel. 

The 90th anniversary of the Lemont Refinery is the third major anniversary for a CITGO facility in the United States in three years. The CITGO Lake Charles Refinery marked its 70th year in 2014, and the CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2015. 

About the CITGO Lemont Refinery
For over 90 years, CITGO Lemont Refinery has employed more than 750 Chicago area residents on a full-time and contract basis in support of the local economy. In addition to producing high quality fuels for a large portion of the network of nearly 5,500 locally-owned CITGO stations across the country, Lemont Refinery employees also make a major positive impact on the community. Each year, more than 2,500 volunteer hours and thousands of dollars are given in support of community programs such as Muscular Dystrophy Association, United Way and a variety of environmental and preservation programs. Operations at the Lemont Refinery began in 1925 with a major expansion, doubling the facility, in 1933. Over the years, new units were added to meet the demand for a better quality of gas for automobiles, aviation fuel for WWII, and the production of asphalt. Petróleos de Venezuela, PDVSA, acquired 100% ownership of the refinery in 1997 and began operations as CITGO Lemont Refinery. For more information, visit www.citgorefining.com/Lemont.

About CITGO
CITGO, based in Houston, is a refiner, transporter and marketer of transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products. The company is owned by CITGO Holding, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. For more information, visit http://www.citgo.com/.