Restart of Whiting Refinery
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BP (NYSE:BP) is gearing up to restart its Whiting, Indiana, refinery,
the largest in the Midwest. The company plans to resume operations in the last week of February
and reach full production by March, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The Whiting refinery had been shut down on February 1 due to a plant-wide power outage, which was initially
attributed to the failure of two transformers at the facility. BP has been conducting assessments
on refinery units and internal piping to ascertain any possible damage resulting from the sudden
shutdown and to determine the exact cause of the power loss. This information was disclosed
in the report.
Retail gasoline prices in the Chicago area have surged by over $0.20 per gallon since the refinery ceased
operations.
The Whiting refinery stands as BP’s (BP) largest in the U.S. and the country’s sixth-largest overall.
It processes 440,000 barrels per day of crude oil, yielding a variety of liquid fuels and asphalt.
The refinery also serves as the primary fuel supplier to the Chicago area.
