Source: Scott Olson / Getty
WHITING, Ind. — A power outage at the BP oil refinery in Whiting forced it to shut down and workers to be evacuated on Thursday.
The refinery was slowly restarted overnight, but earlier in the afternoon Whiting residents could see smoke billowing from the refinery as the operation halted because of a power outage.
Workers had to be evacuated due to the burning of excess product, which is a standard safety procedure in the event of a power outage.
“There was continual monitoring of air quality at multiple points around the refinery by BP and Lake County Hazmat since the incident occurred,” a statement from the city read. “The testing has shown that there was no danger to the public as a result of today’s incident.”
Oil experts, like GasBuddy’s Patrick DeHaan, say the outage cost the refinery nearly a full day’s worth of production, which is around 10 million gallons of gas.
He says that’s enough for you to see an impact at the gas pump soon. DeHaan expects a possible increase in gas prices by as much as 15 cents a gallon.
