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Refinery Woes

Jessica Kourkounis / Newsworks

ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, Delaware County, will be sold to Delta Air Lines.


Philadelphia’s refineries aren’t the only ones suffering from high crude prices and lower demand. Imperial Oil, a Canadian company, just put its 95-year-old refinery in Nova Scotia up for sale. The reasons for refinery closures can be complex, and range from lack of efficiencies to the price of raw crude. NPR’s Jeff Brady explained the Philadelphia area closures in this piece last December. Delta Airlines recently stepped in as an unlikely savior of Philadelphia area refining. It will be interesting to watch whether Delta’s savings on jet fuel will make up for the losses suffered by the previous owner, ConocoPhillips.
In the meantime, there’s good news for consumers. The price at the pump is going down. Previous predictions had a gallon of gas going for $5 this summer, partly due to the refinery shut-downs in Philadelphia. But with the Delta purchase and less bad news from the Middle East, it looks like gas prices won’t continue to rise this summer. And more good news from the energy cost front — government regulators say electricity prices will drop this summer because of the low cost of natural gas.

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