Chevron Corp. (CVX) has filed an appeal to overturn a court order that halted a construction project at its San Francisco Bay-area refinery, the company said Monday. On July 1, a California Superior Court judge ordered the company to stop work on its expansion of its Richmond, Calif., refinery. Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga ruled that the city of Richmond must reconsider its approval of an environmental review of the project to ensure that the review meets environmental regulations.

Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif., believes the review was done properly and wants the California Courts of Appeals to hear the case.

"We believe the city correctly approved the project and that its construction and operation should be allowed to proceed. We look forward to presenting our case to the Court of Appeal," refinery manager Mike Coyle said in a news release.

Environmental and residential groups don't want Chevron to upgrade its refinery units to be able to process Canadian crude, which is known to be dirtier than other crude blends.

Chevron has said it wanted to increase the refinery's crude slate flexibility.

In addition to the crude flexibility, Chevron wants to replace its hydrogen and power plants at the 242,000 barrel-a-day refinery. It had also planned to install a continuous catalyst reformer, which would allow it to convert naphtha into a component of high-octane gasoline.

The refinery can process up to 242,901 barrels a day.

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