Colorado and southwestern Nebraska, which allows us to acquire quality crudes at a discount to West Texas Intermediate crude oil, or WTI, which is used as a benchmark for other crude oils. We also have the ability to receive crude oil by rail directly at our refinery.
High Quality, Upgraded Refinery with Solid Track Record.Our refinery’s complexity allows us to optimize the yields (the percentage of refined product that is produced from crude and other feedstocks) of higher value transportation fuels (gasoline and distillate), which currently account for approximately 90% of our liquid production output. Complexity is a measure of a refinery’s ability to process lower quality crude in an economic manner. From 2005 through December 31, 2009, we invested approximately $521 million to modernize our oil refinery and to meet more stringent U.S. environmental, health and safety requirements. As a result, our refinery’s complexity increased from 10.0 in 2005 to 12.2 in 2009, we significantly improved our assets’ reliability and redundancy and we enhanced the profitability of our refinery during periods of high crack spreads while enabling the refinery to operate more profitably at lower crack spreads than was previously possible. In addition, we achieved significant increases in our refinery’s total throughput, from an average of approximately 98,300 bpd in June 2005 to an average in excess of 120,000 bpd for the year ended December 31, 2009.
Unique Coke Gasification Fertilizer Plant.The nitrogen fertilizer plant, completed in 2000, is the newest fertilizer facility in North America and the only one of its kind in North America using a pet coke gasification process to produce ammonia. While this facility is unique to North America, gasification technology has been in use for over 50 years in various industries to produce fuel, chemicals and other products from carbon-based source materials. Because it uses significantly less natural gas in the manufacture of ammonia than other domestic nitrogen fertilizer plants, the nitrogen fertilizer business’ feedstock cost per ton for ammonia is considerably lower than that of its natural gas-based fertilizer plant competitors. We estimate that the facility’s production cost advantage over U.S. Gulf Coast ammonia producers is sustainable at natural gas prices as low as $3.50 per MMBtu (at March 8, 2010, the price of natural gas was $4.53 per MMBtu).
Experienced Management Team.Our senior management team averages over 29 years of refining and fertilizer industry experience and, in coordination with our broader management team, has increased our enterprise value since 2005, when we acquired our business, by enhancing the overall reliability and production capabilities of our businesses. Mr. John J. Lipinski, our Chief Executive Officer, has over 37 years of experience in the refining and chemicals industries, and prior to joining us in June 2005 was in charge of a 550,000 bpd refining system and a multi-plant fertilizer system. Mr. Stanley A. Riemann, our Chief Operating Officer, has over 36 years of experience, and prior to joining us in March 2004, was in charge of one of the largest fertilizer manufacturing systems in the United States. Mr. Edward A. Morgan, our Chief Financial Officer, has over 18 years of finance experience, including 7 years in the energy industry, and prior to joining us in May 2009, was the chief financial officer of a New York Stock Exchange-listed downstream energy company.
Our Strategy
The primary business objective for our refining business is to strengthen our position as an independent refiner and marketer of refined fuels in our markets by maximizing the throughput and efficiency of our petroleum refining assets. In addition, management’s business objective on behalf of the nitrogen fertilizer business is to maximize the production and efficiency of the nitrogen fertilizer facilities. We intend to accomplish these objectives through the following strategies:
Maintain and increase cash flow with minimal need for significant capital expenditure projects.Our refinery is located in a region of the United States in which refined