Boston, MA 08/29/2014 (wallstreetpr) – According to trade and industry sources of Indiana, a minor incident of fire in Whiting refinery of BP plc (ADR)(NYSE:BP) resulted in unexpected hike in wholesale gasoline prices. There was no news of any major loss as the fire could only hit a piece of equipment that was used to produce gasoline at BP.
What BP management has to say:
Reporters tried to get-in touch with management of BP plc (ADR)(NYSE:BP) to get the updates about the loss. One of the BP representatives told the reporters that fire took place at its biggest plant in USA. Although it didn’t cause much loss and production was not affected.
Whiting refinery is the largest refinery of US with a daily capacity of 413,500 barrel per day (bpd). Recently BP spent as much as $4 billion so that it could handle heavy Canadian crude on every day. All the traders in the nearby area got worried about Whiting refinery, it led to an equity-alike hike in gasoline prices. According to reports, Chicago CBOB gasoline traded at as much as 13.00 cent premium to October RBOB futures. It was 5.50 cents per gallon more than the last closing price of Wednesday. As per the inputs given by Gus Danielides, Whiting Fire Chief, there was the sound of an explosion at the time when fire erupted on Wednesday. He indicated that the fire might have incurred due to short-circuit in compressor that was there in the room.
The people close to this matter said that the fire was limited to a hydrotreater for a gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU). Hydrotreaters normally have compressor equipment in place. Although BP plc (ADR)(NYSE:BP) did not provide any clear information about the fire and loss that incurred, but it said that the fire occurred in the north end of the refinery. One person got injured in this fire; he was hospitalized, but soon was released.
