Hyperion eyes South Dakota for oil refinery Friday, June 15, 2007 Associated PressElk Point, S.D. – Thousands of acres of farmland in the southeastern tip of South Dakota could become home to the nation’s first new oil refinery since 1976. Hyperion Resources Inc., a privately held Dallas-based energy company, is considering Elk Point and several other Mid west sites for the $8 billion refinery, which would turn 400,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada per day into low- sulfur gasoline and low-sulfur diesel fuel, said Preston Phillips, a Hyperion executive. “This refinery is going to be the most advanced state-of-the- art facility in the U.S. and the world,” Phillips said at a news conference Wednesday. Construction of the refinery would average 4,500 workers over a four-year period, and the plant would employ 1,800 with an average hourly wage of $20 to $30 per hour, Phillips said. Rumors about the secretive project – dubbed “Gorilla” by local residents – have been rampant since word got out that the area was being considered for a large development project.
