[3] The complex completed a CA$2.9 billion upgrade project in 2012 to increase operations up to 145,000 barrels per day (23,100 m3/d)[4][5] In the 1930s, horses were giving way to petroleum-fuelled tractors.
Co-ops were formed at Milestone, Wilcox, Sherwood at Regina, Moose Jaw, Riceton, Lewvan, Rouleau, Lang, Weyburn and Pense, among other locations.
[6] In 1933, the Canadian government established a tariff of 3.7 cents a gallon on gasoline imported from the United States, effectively cutting the co-ops off from this source of supply.
However, as the year progressed, these independent refiners were bought up by the major oil companies and the wholesale price of gasoline was raised two cents a gallon.
Original Board Member, Sid Gough of Lewvan, distinguished himself by pledging the title to his own farm as security for the line of credit with the railroad.
Saskatchewan and Canada were determined to secure the nation's energy future by developing the vast reserves of heavy oil.
CRC continued to own its refining units and also became a partner with the Saskatchewan government in the ownership of the NewGrade Energy Incorporated Heavy Oil Upgrader.
The mega project required hundreds of thousands of hours of engineering and approximately 6,000 tradespeople worked on the site for an estimated 4,500 person years of employment in construction.
The Section V expansion involved building five new processing units, 14 additional storage tanks, a new cooling tower and electrical substation as well as new firewater, flare, plant and instrument systems.
[6] Today the Co-op Refinery Complex produces 130,000 bbl/d and covers 800 acres of land in the north east corner of Regina, Saskatchewan.
[9] Consumers Co-operative Refinery Limited pleaded guilty to one of 5 Occupational Health and Safety charges[10] and on May 12, 2015 was fined $280,000 for failing to ensure that work was "sufficiently and competently supervised".
[14] [15] Around Midnight on Tuesday March 1, 2016 a rail car containing asphalt rolled, uncontrolled, several kilometers into the city of Regina after it left CCRL property in a runaway condition.