BP to cut production at Indiana refinery as major upgrade project starts
By BEN LEFEBVRE
BP is about to start a major project at its refinery in Whiting, Ind., that will temporarily reduce output at the 405,000-bpd refinery by half, the company said.
News of the production cut helped to send US gasoline futures contracts higher on the Nymex Wednesday, as fuel supply in the US Northeast is already crimped by pipeline and refinery outages brought on by Hurricane Sandy.
Nymex gasoline futures were up 1.4% to $2.65/gal midday Wednesday.
BP will replace the largest of the refinery's three crude distillation units and expects the work to be completed by the second half of 2013, chief financial officer Brian Gilvary said during a conference call with investors Tuesday.
"This will temporarily reduced the crude capacity of the refinery by more than 50%," Gilvary said.
BP said it will also perform "major turnarounds" at two of its refineries in the fourth quarter.
Dow Jones Newswires
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