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According to filings with environmental regulators, the Exxon
Mobil refinery in Joliet, which has the capacity to produce
275,000 barrels per day, has remained offline through Thursday.
Patrick De Haan, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy, told
The Center Square this week that officials thought the plant
would likely be fully online near the end of the week.
“This refinery I believe has a capacity of nearly 8% of the
total refining capacity in the region. So it's a fairly large
contributor that has a capacity to produce and refine over 10
million gallons of fuel every day,” De Haan said. “So while this
restart process takes time, this refinery has not been able to
meaningfully contribute refined product to the market.”
De Haan previously spoke to reports that another major regional
refinery, the BP plant in Whiting, Indiana, was undergoing
maintenance, to which he said the reports were likely misguided.
“There was some chatter from market sources about potential
maintenance. But I was able to learn that that maintenance was
in late August on a portion of a unit that does not have a
significant impact on production,” De Haan said.
New reports, which De Haan has addressed, suggest there have
been some slowdowns at the BP plant later into the week, which
he said in an X post was likely tied to maintenance.
Compounded with geopolitical conflict in both the Middle East
and between Russia and Ukraine, the refinery slowdowns in the
midwest have driven fuel prices up significantly across the
Midwest.
Friday’s national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline
was $4.47, while diesel reached a new all time high nationally
of $6.45.
In Illinois, regular was $4.85 on average, while diesel was
$6.50. Similarly, Michigan saw regular prices at $4.89 and
diesel at $6.68. Both states, and others with relatively lower
prices, saw major shocks to the price of diesel week-over-week.
Michigan experienced a 66-cent increase, followed by Indiana
with a 52-cent increase, then Illinois with 47 cents, and
Wisconsin with 35 cents.
De Haan said that fuel prices would likely remain higher if
foreign conflicts continue escalating, and the price of regular
and diesel fuels would likely come down slightly in the region
with a lag behind refinery capacity coming online.
“Whether prices go up or down is really just going to be a
function in the weeks ahead on whether there's escalation which
would drive prices up by changing the risk calculus and making
it more difficult for oil to flow,” De Haan said.
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