Sunoco Shuts Down Its Suburban Philadelphia Refinery

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

December 1, 2011 | 6:34 PM

Paul J. Richards / AFP/Getty Images

A worker delivers gasoline to underground tanks at a Sunoco gas station in Arlington, Va. Richards / AFP/Getty Images

Sunoco announced Thursday that it would begin to idle its Marcus Hook refinery effective immediately. The company announced in September that it was getting out of the oil refinery business. But the shut-downs were not expected until the summer. A press release blames market forces.

“Market conditions have deteriorated significantly and the outlook for both motor fuel demand and refining margins remains weak,” said Lynn L. Elsenhans, Sunoco’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Our retail and logistics businesses are performing well, but given the negative realities of the Northeast refining marketplace, we need to accelerate the timeline for idling our Marcus Hook processing units.”

The company says almost 500 employees will lose their jobs. Sunoco’s Philadelphia refinery will increase its capacity. But Sunoco says if a buyer isn’t found by July, it will shutter both facilities.