Fuel Prices Surge as Marathon Shuts Major US Oil Refinery

Diesel futures surged to a seven-month high in New York after Marathon Petroleum Corp. said it was shutting the third largest US oil refinery following a blaze at a storage tank.

The fire at the Garyville refinery in south Louisiana was contained but ongoing late Friday afternoon, according to Marathon spokespeople. It’s the third blaze to strike the plant in less than a year. Parish officials have ordered residents within a two-mile radius to evacuate.

A plume of smoke drifts from the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Garyville, on Aug. 25.

Source: AP Photo

Diesel rose 5% while gasoline futures jumped about 4%. The outage threatens to deplete already below-average distillates stockpiles at a time when US demand ...