Exxon's Joliet, Illinois, refinery restarts units, ramps up production

Exxon Mobil XOM restarted select units at its 251,800 barrel-per-day refinery in Joliet, Illinois, three weeks after it lost power following a storm, the company said on Wednesday.

"We’re continuing to assess our equipment and working hard to resume full operations as safely and quickly as possible," an Exxon spokesperson said.

The facility experienced a flaring incident on Tuesday, filing shows. Flaring is a part of the refinery restart process.

"We’re minimizing flaring as much as possible," the spokesperson said.

The facility lost power and took most of its units offline after a tornado passed through Joliet in July.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency waiver to help alleviate fuel shortages in states where the supply of gasoline has been impacted by the shutdown of the Joliet refinery.

The refinery mainly processes Canadian crude oil and produces around 9 million gallons a day of gasoline and diesel, according to the company website.