Largest Refinery In US Midwest Shuts Down After Power Outage

The largest refinery in the US Midwest has been shut down after a power outage hit the facility Thursday afternoon.

BP’s Whiting refinery, located in Whiting, Indiana, is the Midwest’s largest refinery and largest globally for the British multinational oil and gas company. It can process 440,000 barrels of crude oil daily. 

BP issued this statement about the incident: 

“BP has notified the City of Whiting that they are in the process of safely shutting down the refinery after a suspected power outage.

“BP has activated their emergency response team and evacuated refinery office buildings out of an abundance of caution. Local fire departments are assisting with the evacuation by closing nearby roads. The safety of refinery staff and the community are our highest priority for the Whiting BP Refinery.” 

Commodity analyst Giovanni Staunovo posted on social media platform X, “As a result of this power outage, additional product is being burned, which will cause additional flaring of the stacks. This flaring is a safety release to burn off the extra product and is a normal process during an event. BP is working to resolve the power outage as quickly as possible.” 

The City of Whiting has been notified of a power outage at the BP Whiting Refinery property which has affected power to the Refinery. As a result of this power outage, additional product is being burned which will cause additional flaring of the stacks. This flaring is a safety…

— Giovanni Staunovo🛢 (@staunovo) February 1, 2024

Images of the flaring have been published on X. 

BP Whiting refinery as of 15 mins ago showing heavy flare activity, major power loss. Likely looking at a couple of weeks of impacted production- very early, however. pic.twitter.com/k9ecj1hVXo

— Patrick De Haan ⛽️📊 (@GasBuddyGuy) February 1, 2024

The bp plant in whiting Indiana is being evacuated. #whitingindiana #bp pic.twitter.com/IKHema2tfQ

— Childhood Matters (@MamaearthDesign) February 1, 2024

BREAKING: BP Whiting Refinery in Indiana has power outage resulting in emergency flares releasing everything so there is isn’t an explosion. Regional News Source’s Paul Goddard reports BP lost control and had to “dump the chemicals.” Basically…uncontrolled chemical release. pic.twitter.com/o19SCUM4Qc

— Jordan (@JordanChariton) February 1, 2024

Gasoline futures have not reacted to the news of the refinery closure. 

There is no word on refining disruptions and or the cause of the power outage.