Officials are investigating an unplanned emergency flaring event at Marathon Petroleum Corp.’s Los Angeles refinery. The incident, which occurred in the Wilmington section of the refinery, triggered a release of sulfur dioxide. A Hazardous Materials Spill Report was filed with California’s Governor’s Office Emergency Services to address the process upset that caused the incident.
The current status of the release is unknown at this time. Marathon Petroleum declined to provide further details about the incident.
This is not the first time the refinery has experienced unplanned flaring. Over the weekend, there was another flaring incident caused by a sulfur dioxide release due to a compressor failure.
In terms of market impact, Los Angeles CARBOB prices were bid at plus 30 cents compared to offers at 40 cents ahead of August futures. This left positions on both sides of Tuesday’s 34 cent premium to the NYMEX’s August RBOB contract. Implied prices showed futures-inspired gains of 1.72 cents, reaching $2.9799 per gallon at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Reporting by Sydnee Beach, Editing by Cory Wilchek
