Delta’s Monroe Energy refinery in Delco shuts due to internal leak
The incident could stop daily production of up to 200,000 barrels of jet fuel and other products for at least a few days.
The Monroe Energy refinery on the Delaware River in Trainer, Delaware County, stopped its two 100,000-barrels-per-day crude-oil distilleries Tuesday due to a leak inside the facility, Industrial Info Resources (IIR), a Texas-based energy research service, told clients Wednesday.
Delta Air Lines owns the refinery and uses much of its capacity to make jet fuel. A Delta spokesperson said he could not comment on daily operations at Monroe Energy, adding there is no danger to the public.
The stoppage was reported in other energy media and noted on Delaware River Shipping, a 7,000-member Facebook group frequented by people who work for shipping-related businesses and others with an interest in river traffic.
Even before the war with Iran disrupted shipping and delayed oil deliveries, causing a spike in world energy prices, U.S. refinery closings had reduced supplies of gasoline, fuel oil and jet fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The shutdowns reflect lower demand for gasoline as Americans drive more energy-efficient vehicles.
But the reduced supply makes prices more vulnerable to plant shutdowns and other supply disruptions, according to the agency.
Delta bought the former ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer in 2012 to insulate itself against swings in oil prices by producing its own jet fuel and other refined products for trade to jet fuel suppliers in other cities. Fuel is airlines’ largest single expense, according to the International Air Transport Association, which represents airlines that carry most of the world’s passenger traffic.
The Trainer facility was among the larger U.S. importers of Russian crude oil before Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022 and U.S. refiners stopped buying Russian crude.
Monroe Energy, which employs around 500 union workers, managers and other professionals, and contractors, is one of three similarly sized oil refineries remaining on the Delaware River since the closing of the former Sunoco refineries in Westville, N.J. (2010), Marcus Hook (2011), and South Philadelphia (2019).
The two other remaining refineries in Delaware City, Del., and Paulsboro, N.J., are owned are operated by publicly traded PBF Energy, based in Parsippany, N.J.
In a separate incident, neighbors of Monroe’s tank farm in Aston, Delaware County, which relies on well water, were issued bottled water last year after 378,000 gallons of gasoline leaked through a quarter-inch hole in one of the 12 tanks on the site over a period of several months before the leak was found last December.
