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BP’s (NYSE:BP) Whiting, Indiana, refinery – the largest in the Midwest, is set to restart operations in March after a plant-wide power outage forced its shutdown, as reported by Reuters on Wednesday.
Initially attributed to the failure of two transformers, the outage prompted BP to conduct assessments on refinery units and internal piping to check for potential damage caused by the sudden shutdown and pinpoint the exact cause of the power loss.
Retail gasoline prices in the Chicago area surged by more than $0.20 per gallon in response to the refinery’s shutdown.
The Whiting refinery, BP’s largest in the U.S. and the sixth largest in the country, processes 440,000 barrels per day of crude oil. It is a key supplier of various liquid fuels and asphalt and serves as the primary fuel provider for the Chicago area.