BP Sees Progress on Restoring Indiana Refinery Operations

BP Plc is acting to restore its 435,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana, refinery to normal operations following a full shutdown because of a Feb. 1 plant-wide power outage, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

“BP is making progress on the work to restore the refinery to normal operations,” company spokesperson Christina Audisho said in an emailed statement.

Sources on Wednesday told Reuters the refinery would remain shut for up to three weeks of inspections on production units and piping to determine if there was any damage caused by the power outage.

BP has not said when it expects the refinery to resume production.

The company is also working to determine the exact cause of the power outage, which has been attributed to the failure of two transformers at the refinery.

The outage of the Whiting refinery, the largest in the U.S. Midwest, has driven up gasoline and diesel prices in Midwest markets.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)