Gas prices in Michigan and the Midwest have not recovered two weeks after a tornado just missed a major regional gasoline facility south of Chicago.
By the end of this week, Exxon Mobil complex officials in Joliet want to have the almost 252,000-barrel-per-day facility back up and operating.
The tornado caused some direct damage and knocked off the plant’s electricity, taking 16 units offline, including the sulfur recovery unit, FCC, diesel unit, and vacuum distillation unit.
The repairs took longer than expected. Because of this, fuel from refineries around the Gulf of Mexico has to be carried up to Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan in order to serve customers.
Due to this disturbance, gas prices in West Michigan have increased to almost $4 per gallon. Adrienne Woodland of Triple-A reports that the Auto Club surveys gas stations throughout the state every day and finds that the average price is $3.77, which is 27 cents more than the national average.
After an early February fire at the Whiting, Indiana, refinery, this is the second time that a regional refinery issue has been noticed at the pump. It might take until the middle of August for this most recent gas price rise to entirely subside.
