BP Recalls "Bad Gas" From Whiting Refinery [UPDATE]

By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 21, 2012 4:40PM

Environmental concerns over the BP refinery in Whiting, Ind. are well-known but you’d think they would at least be able to process gasoline properly.

Apparently, that’s not the case as BP has recalled gasoline shipped between Aug. 13-17 from the Whiting fuel storage terminal after numerous complaints from motorists of hard starts or inability to start their vehicles.

BP wouldn’t go into detail about what the problem with the gas may be. They would only say the gas in question came from a tank at the Whiting plant. A Merrillville car dealership told ABC 7 a dozen cars came to their repair center because the bad fuel caused their vehicles to not start. The average cost to drain and repair the cars was $1,200. Another GMC dealership in Merrillville reported 30 vehicles came to them with problems. Reports of hard or no starts were also reported in Crown Point, Valparaiso and even in New Buffalo, Mich.

Tony James, owner of an auto supply store in Merrillville, told the Sun-Times it’s possible the gas could have been mixed with water, may have too much detergent additive or have something else wrong with it entirely, but that no one can be certain until BP tests the gasoline. A BP spokesman emailed the Sun-Times to say the company is investigating the problem, contacting businesses that received gasoline shipments from them in the past week and are proceeding with caution.

Update: 5:22 p.m. The Tribune is reporting the recall is for 2.1 million gallons of gasoline. Most of it was sold in northwest Indiana, but some of the fuel has made its way into Illinois and Michigan.

Chicagoist has received a few emails after this post originally went live one reader emailed he filled up on regular unleaded gasoline at a BP station at 135th and Cicero in Crestwood. Another reader said her husband filled up their car with gasoline from a BP station at 95th Street and Southwest Highway in Oak Lawn.