BP refinery blows up....there go gas prices!

[k1xv]

A major explosion, killing at least 14 employees, at the BP Texas City refinery. Explosion/fire centered on the isomerization unit. Isomerization is a process to produce high octane component for gasoline.

Gasoline prices in the trading pits immediately shot up by two cents a gallon.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050324/ap_on_re_us/plant_explosion

I feel sorry for the employees and their families. I started my career in a major oil refinery, working in the field, not in an office building. They are very dangerous places.

 

[outrun]

Ya horrible incident.

My dad started as a plant engineer in Port Charles with all those refineries. Solid Rocket Propellant plants also were quite ominous.

Later on he was desked into corporate engineering.His stories of plant/grain elevator etc explosions always scared the heck out of me.

 

[MolaKule]

K1, I was just about to post the same thing with the same URL.

Spooky!

I worked at both the Standard Oil refinery and the Mobil refinery in western IL and there were always something leaking or catching fire but never like this.

I was mixing fuels at the Mobil refinery one day and some one transmitted on a walky talkie near the control shack which accidently triggered an overflow valve ruining and spilling about a 1,000 gallons of partially blended aviation gasoline. Luckily, there were no ignition sources or all of us would be playing harps.

 

[k1xv]

I was at Bayway in Linden NJ from 1968-73. The biggest, most spectacular "event" there was the blow up of the reactor vessel at one of the first large scale hydrogenization units. 2800 psi, 700 degrees (actually, 1100 at the "hot spot" that caused the reactor to let go). It happened on a Saturday night, but I was in there within a half hour.

It was heard up to 75 miles away, and broke every plate glass window in downtown Elizabeth NJ, about 6 miles away.

The absolute scariest event without actual fire or explosion was when a 6" propane line let go about 50 yards from an open flame furnace. I thought we were all going to get blown away.

 

[Shannow]

As a maintenance engineer at a utility, my greatest fear is of a workmate being injured or killed.

Industrial incidents are never pretty.

 

[Al]

Was it sabatoge?? Pretty good way to bring this country to its knees.

Better buy your Honda and Civic now guys

It'll be ugly.

 

[MAJA]

Reports are that it was not sabotoge, or terrorism. Just an industrial accident. But why did some gas stations raise their gas prices by .02, before the fire was even out??

 

[labman]

quote:

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Originally posted by MAJA:
If it werent for you, I would not know of the pipeline breaking. I am still sifting through the right to die/live stories.

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Fortunatly our moderators reduce the need for that here.

 

[Jimbo]

I was living within a mile of the Mobil refinery in Torrance when a unit blew one night. I first thought it was an earthquake.

Also in the news this morning, the crude oil pipeline from Bakersfield to LA broke, spiling oil into a lake that supplies drinking water.

These two accidents should spike gasoline futures nicely.

 

[MAJA]

If it werent for you, I would not know of the pipeline breaking. I am still sifting through the right to die/live stories.

 

[Patman]

Supposedly the plant is still at or near full product, despite the blast, so this should not affect the price of fuel long term.

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:
Supposedly the plant is still at or near full product, despite the blast, so this should not affect the price of fuel long term.

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Wow..I hadn't heard that.

 

[keith]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:
Supposedly the plant is still at or near full product, despite the blast, so this should not affect the price of fuel long term.

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According to this article one tenth of global oil supply is processed through the Ras Tanura terminal in Saudi Arabia. Imagine if that supply was disrupted.

 

[keith]

Explosion fails to affect oil output