OREANDA-NEWS. BP is this week ramping up rates on its largest crude unit following unscheduled repairs at its 410,000 b/d refinery in Whiting, Indiana.

The company today said fuel production would "ramp up over time" and that the rest of the refinery continued to operate.

BP shut the unit on 8 August for unplanned repairs, and at the time offered no timeline for its return.

The outage sent Chicago gasoline prices rocketing higher and smothered West Canadian Select (WCS) crude prices. Argus assessments immediately following the outage climbed higher by 44.75?/USG for regular Chicago CBOB and by 48.75?/USG for regular Chicago RBOB.

Differentials for WCS, the heavy crude BP reconfigured its refinery to process over the past three years, fell to $20.75/bl in the wake of the outage, its widest discount in more than a year, based on Argus assessments. Both gasoline and heavy crude prices returned to more normal levels as confidence in a restart grew.