BP Says Key Unit at Indiana Refinery Remains Shut
August 17 2015 - 1:59PM
Dow Jones News
BP Plc said in a statement Monday that a key unit of its
refinery in Indiana remains shut, but said it has met all of its
contractual obligations since the outage hit more than a week
ago.
The Aug. 8 closure of the 413,000 barrel-a-day refinery's main
crude distillation unit led to a huge spike in gasoline prices in
the Midwest last week, amid concerns overall supplies wouldn't meet
still-high consumer demand amid summer-driving season. In Indiana,
retail gasoline prices were averaging $2.97 a gallon Monday,
according to price-checking firm GasBuddy, up from $2.36 a gallon
one week ago. Nationwide, gasoline prices are slightly higher from
a week ago, at $2.67 a gallon.
"The BP Whiting Refinery continues repair work on a crude
distillation unit that was shut down due to a malfunction," the
company said in an email. "The rest of the refinery continues to
operate safely and is producing fuel for customers, but at lower
than normal volumes."
BP said it continues to address the shortfall created by the
damaged unit, by acquiring additional supplies of fuel. As such, BP
says it has met all its contractual obligations.
GasBuddy said last week's skyrocketing prices in the Midwestern
states have settled down this week, even if they remain
elevated.
"At this point, it does appear that most of the price shocks are
behind us, though if there are any curve balls that hit the market,
all bets are off," GasBuddy's Patrick DeHaan said. "Outside the
Great Lakes, most regions are seeing gasoline prices decline."
The BP refinery, which started operations in 1889, is located in
Whiting, on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan.
Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 17, 2015 13:44 ET (17:44 GMT)
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