The biggest refinery on the East Coast will shut down, after a massive explosion and fire crippled operations at a site that has helped fuel the region for 153 years.
The Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc. complex on the banks of the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers in Pennsylvania has been in place since 1866, a year after the Civil War ended. It emerged from bankruptcy just 10 months prior to two fires in June that closed down key gasoline-making units just as the summer driving season gears up.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said June 26 the refinery will close within the next month. The complex produces 335,000 barrels a day, meeting about 3% of gasoline demand in a densely populated region. Futures in New York jumped more than 5% on a Reuters report June 25 night that the refinery would close.
PES will lay off half of its 640 union workers and 130 salaried employees June 26, said a person familiar with the plans.
On June 24, the United Steelworkers union said any decision to shut the complex would have lasting consequences “starting with almost 2,000 workers directly employed by PES and tens of thousands more whose employment depends on the refinery to some degree,” according to a statement by USW International Vice President Tom Conway.