Exxon has commenced restarting some units at its Joliet, Illinois, refinery following a three-week shutdown.
The 251,800-barrel-per-day (bpd) facility was closed in mid-July due to a power outage caused by a storm. The refinery produces approximately 9 million gallons of gasoline and diesel daily.
“Situations like this take time to recover as they will have to see if the sudden shutdown did damage to any of the units,” a source close to the company told Reuters.
The power outage impacted 16 units at the refinery, including a vacuum distillation unit and a catalytic cracker unit.
The Joliet refinery’s outage widened the discount of heavy crude from Canada to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) because the facility is a major consumer. However, news of the refinery’s restart has narrowed the price difference in anticipation of increased demand. The discount has decreased from about $15 per barrel to around $13 per barrel.
Earlier this month, Exxon exceeded Wall Street estimates with the second-highest earnings for the second quarter in a decade, driven by the acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. This acquisition led to record quarterly production and the highest oil output since the Exxon-Mobil merger.
Last week, Exxon reported second-quarter 2024 earnings of $9.2 billion, or $2.14 per share assuming dilution, surpassing the Wall Street Journal’s analyst estimate of $2.02.
The $60 billion Pioneer acquisition, completed during the second quarter, contributed $500 million to earnings in the first two months post-closing. Exxon stated that record production and integration and synergy benefits exceeded expectations.
The transaction granted Exxon access to over 1.4 million net acres in the Delaware and Midland basins in the Permian.