ExxonMobil's Joliet, Illinois refinery remains offline after floodwater overwhelmed a pump following a power-related shutdown. Reuters reported that power has been restored, but the 275,000-barrel-per-day facility had not returned to operation, adding another constraint to an already tight global fuel market.
The Midwest supply footprint is material
ExxonMobil says Joliet accounts for about 6% of Midwest refining capacity and normally produces roughly 11 million gallons of gasoline and diesel per day. That makes an extended outage more consequential than a routine plant upset, particularly when fuel inventories and refining capacity are already under pressure.
The outage coincides with Middle East supply disruption and reduced Russian refining output, while U.S. diesel prices have climbed sharply. The combination increases sensitivity in regional gasoline and distillate markets to any delay in restarting Joliet.
Industry expectations had pointed toward normal operations returning by the end of the week, but the additional floodwater-related pump problem introduces uncertainty. ExxonMobil has not provided a firm restart time in the latest report.
Watch ExxonMobil restart indications, Midwest gasoline and diesel cracks, regional inventories, refinery utilization and WTI product spreads. A prolonged Joliet outage would strengthen the near-term refined-products squeeze even if crude prices continue to ease.
Affected markets: Oil & Energy · Commodities · Equities