Exxon Mobil refinery in southwest suburban Channahon, Illinois investigating Sunday power outage
The Exxon Mobil refinery in southwest suburban Channahon, Illinois, said it is trying to determine what caused a major power outage on Sunday, halting diesel and gasoline production at the facility.
Officials said the refinery experienced a power outage at around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, resulting in a shutdown. Power was subsequently restored at about 7 p.m.
The outage prompted the refinery to use its safety flare system to burn off excess pressure caused by the outage.
That sent thick plumes of black smoke into the air, visible from miles away.
"What a lot of people saw were the safety mechanisms designed that, if suddenly the plug gets pulled on a refinery, refineries operate under tremendous heat. They are literally cracking oil and turning it into other molecules, and when an unintended power outage occurs, all of that built-up pressure and heat needs to go somewhere. That is what people saw in the flare stacks," De Haan said.
The refinery produces about 275,000 barrels, or 11 million gallons, of gasoline and diesel fuel per day. Production has been halted since the power outage.
"That certainly is also very problematic for a refinery that contributes almost 10% of the supply in the region," said GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan. "Thankfully, this is not happening in the spring or summer, when an outage would be even more critical."
On Monday, workers at the refinery were conducting a site status assessment to determine the cause of the power outage. An Exxon Mobil spokesperson said they are in touch with the appropriate agencies.
The refinery said it is also conducting air monitoring.
"The safety of the community and our workforce remains our primary focus," the spokesperson wrote in a statement.
But with the U.S. national average price of diesel surpassing $6 a gallon for the first time ever just last week, the Channahon refinery serving as a key supplier for the Midwest, and the Iran war and Ukrainian attacks already straining supplies, could this further impact already high fuel prices?
Exxon Mobil isn't addressing that question, but De Haan has a close eye on the market.
"For now, this power outage does not yet appear to be another impact at this moment. Now that could change," he said.
Exxon Mobil has not said when the refinery will resume normal operations, but experts estimated it could be up to a week. De Haan said the company is likely losing millions of dollars every day the refinery is not operating.
