Joliet Refinery Stays Offline After Outage, Midwest Diesel Impact Unclear

Exxon Mobil's 275,000-barrel-per-day Joliet refinery, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, remains offline after a Sunday power outage triggered a safety flare. Exxon traced the outage to ComEd's primary and secondary electrical lines and said power was fully restored Thursday, though production has not resumed. A Thursday filing disclosed floodwater overwhelmed a pump; cleanup crews deployed a containment boom. Exxon has not confirmed whether the flooding was related to the outage. The plant produces about 11 million gallons of gasoline and diesel daily and represents roughly 6% of Midwest refining capacity and 1.5% nationally. IIR Energy had expected a full restart this week, but Wood Mackenzie data showed the plant still not producing as of Thursday. U.S. diesel stands at a record $6.45 a gallon per AAA amid pressures tied to Middle East conflict and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. Patrick De Haan said further Great Lakes price increases are likely, with Ohio at high risk of the largest gasoline jump and diesel set for moderate or large jumps in most of the region, and that spot diesel there is the highest in the country at $240 a barrel. Mike McGlone said "$6 diesel echoes 2008 gasoline shock." Restart timing remains unclear.