Citgo says Lemont catalytic cracker shut after storm

Citgo Petroleum Corp. said a fluid catalytic cracker at its Lemont, Illinois, refinery is offline after power failures resulting from a storm. Spot gasoline in Chicago gained the most in more than three weeks.

"During a severe electrical storm last night at the Citgo Lemont refinery, several process units at the facility shut down due to electrical problems," the company said in an e-mailed statement. "At this time, the FCC remains down."

The discount for spot gasoline in Chicago narrowed to futures by 1.5 cents to 2.5 cents a gallon, the biggest jump since June 14. The prompt-delivery price rose 6.31 cents to $1.9944.

The Lemont plant receives most of its crude oil from Western Canada via the Enbridge Inc. pipeline system, according to Pete Colarelli, a refinery spokesman. The plant processes heavy, sour crude oil.

Western Canada Select crude oil's discount to benchmark West Texas Intermediate widened 55 cents to $15.15 a barrel, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of 2:14 p.m. in New York.

The Lemont refinery produces several grades of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and some hydrocarbon solvents used in paints, according to the company's 2007 annual report.

The plant has a capacity of 167,000 barrels a day and accounts for about 4.5 percent of the refining capacity in the central part of the country, known as PADD 2.