Joliet refinery problem may hike gas prices

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Updated: July 3, 2011 12:49PM

CHANNAHON — A compressor problem at the ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery in Channahon Township over the weekend led to the flaring of sulfur dioxide gases, according to reports filed recently with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

IEPA spokeswoman Maggie Carson said an inspector has been sent to see if the company violated its permit conditions by releasing too much sulfur dioxide into the air. If so, Exxon will have to take corrective measures, she said.

Also, the IEPA is waiting for the company to complete its own investigation and issue a report, which Exxon said it would do within seven days, Carson said. The refinery is on the Des Plaines River at Interstate 55 and Arsenal Road.

“We can confirm what was reported to state and local agencies over the weekend,” said company spokesman Kevin Allexon. “A compressor trip led to flaring of (sulfur dioxide). Per our standard practice, we will not comment on operational details like run rates nor will we speculate on when repairs might be completed.”

The company will be able to meet customer commitments while repairs are made, Allexon added.

It’s not known if gas prices will rise as a result of the compressor problem at the refinery. But they have been increasing since the incident, said Beth Mosher, a spokeswoman for AAA in Aurora.

“The wholesale gas prices in the Chicago area have risen 40 cents since Friday,” she said.

The wholesale price of regular gas was $2.92 a gallon and a special low-pollution blend that has to be used in Chicago region, including Will County, was $3 gallon. Late Tuesday, the wholesale prices had increased to $3.31 and $3.41, respectively, she said.

“So we will likely see those increases reflected in retail prices in the coming days,” Mosher said.

No one knows yet if the full 40-cent increase will be passed on to consumers or just a portion of it, she added. Before the Exxon problem, retail prices were declining.

“We don’t think this (increase) is going to last long and we believe this Exxon issue will be corrected in a matter of days,” Mosher said. “We still think we’ve hit our peak as far as gas prices go.”

David Sykuta, a spokesman for the Illinois Petroleum Council, said until Exxon releases more information on the nature of the problem and how long it will take to repair, it’s hard to say what affect the glitch at the refinery will have.

However, if it turns out there will be an extended outage, that could boost gas prices for the Chicago and Detroit metro areas, which are served by the refinery, he added.

“We don’t know yet, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Holiday travel

Before the possibility of higher gas prices hit, AAA was predicting that 34.9 million Americans would travel 50 miles or more from home during the Memorial Day weekend, a slight increase of 0.2 percent from last year.

In Illinois, 1.8 million people were expected to travel from Thursday through Monday, also a 0.2 percent increase.

When AAA made the holiday travel prediction May 19, gas prices were averaging $4.17 a gallon, up from $2.98 in 2010. But by Wednesday, the price of a regular gallon of gas had fallen to $4.05.