Feb 17, 2012:

The price of gasoline in the Puget Sound area might increase more than expected because of a fire Friday afternoon at the BP Cherry Point Refinery near Ferndale. “The big question over the next couple of days will be how widespread is the damage and how much capacity will go down,” said Tim Hamilton, executive director of Automotive United Trades Organization, a nonprofit group that represents gas station operators and suppliers.  Hamilton on Friday estimated the price of gasoline was due for a jump of 5 cents to 15 cents per gallon even before the fire ignited. The blaze at the Whatcom County refinery was reported after 2 p.m. Friday. Firefighters stationed at the refinery made the first attack, and others soon were called to assist. There were no injuries reported, said BP spokesman Michael Abendhoff. “All employees and contractors have been accounted for,” he told The News Tribune.

Abendhoff said he was not aware which unit at the complex had been damaged. He said workers would make an assessment of the damage “as soon as possible, and only when it’s safe to do so.” The cause of the fire had not been determined Friday. The facility lists an ability to refine up to 234,00 gallons of crude oil daily and primarily produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, Abendhoff said. The refinery supplies 20 percent of the state’s gasoline and the majority of jet fuel used at airports at SeaTac, Portland and Vancouver, B.C., according to the BP website. Hamilton said four other refineries in Western Washington – in Tacoma, Anacortes and Ferndale – might be able to increase production to compensate for any decrease in production at the BP plant.

However, he said, “we’re going through price increases as it is. The question is: ‘How much more are we going to go through?’ The public is going to see, without the fire, increases of five to 15 cents a gallon anyway. We’ve seen it at the stations, but it hasn’t made it to the pump.” If the fire forces a major closure at the Ferndale operation, “we could see significant price increases, anywhere from 25 to 50 cents a gallon. We’ll know over the next 18 to 36 hours what’s coming at us,” Hamilton said late Friday afternoon.

According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Washington stood at $3.58 per gallon Friday, up from $3.51 a week before and up from $3.31 a year ago. According to ww.tacomagasprices.com, the highest price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the area was $3.83, with the low marking $3.38.

Hamilton asked, “How far is it going to go? We’ll know in the next couple of days.”

By TheNewsTribune.com