Smitty’s supply burns down

[Foxtrot08]

https://www.wdsu.com/article/louisiana-plant-explosion-drone-video/65874404


8.5 million gallons from what I was told, is what they had on hand. No clue how the fire started yet. Surprised there wasn’t a thread on this yet. I got the text at 4:29pm EST.

I’m going to wonder who will pick up packaging Pennzoil after this. Pinnacle might be the only ones that can pick up the slack. That facility is gone.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

oh no

 

[RoadDukie]

Thank goodness nobody was killed. Looks bad.

 

[Exhaustgases]

And wasn't too long ago another automotive chemical outfit burned.

All very strange stuff.

I suppose they will never find the cause, as we never heard the cause of that other fire.

All oil related industry's need to go under ground to prevent this sort of thing.

 

[fantastic]

Does something like this mean the fuel prices will go up?
Hopefully, everyone will be in good shape after the smoke clears.

 

[Kira]

I recall some coolants being in short supply after a glycol factory burned down.
I don't recall if or how prices were effected.

 

[Foxtrot08]

Does something like this mean the fuel prices will go up?
Hopefully, everyone will be in good shape after the smoke clears.

Primarily lubricants blending. It’s not a refinery. So nothing really in terms of gasoline or diesel prices would be affected. They may do some fuel additive, but that wouldn’t really directly affect much.

But they’re the largest shell blender in the U.S. for Pennzoil, Quaker state, Rotella, etc. they do the majority of the blending and packaging for them. Let alone all the other brands they blend and package for.

Given, there’s an excess amount of blending capacity in the U.S. for bulk currently. So a shortage isn’t really a concern. Just there isn’t a lot of extra packaging right now.

 

[Exhaustgases]

And lucky I think they have other facilities in other states. They make a lot of product, and not just oil and lubes.

Lot of folks are out of work now though.

 

[fantastic]

Primarily lubricants blending. It’s not a refinery. So nothing really in terms of gasoline or diesel prices would be affected. They may do some fuel additive, but that wouldn’t really directly affect much.

But they’re the largest shell blender in the U.S. for Pennzoil, Quaker state, Rotella, etc. they do the majority of the blending and packaging for them. Let alone all the other brands they blend and package for.

Given, there’s an excess amount of blending capacity in the U.S. for bulk currently. So a shortage isn’t really a concern. Just there isn’t a lot of extra packaging right now.

Thanks for the details! I didn't know what type of business this was until you mentioned it. So it's a pretty big deal in oil blending world but won't affect fuel prices since that is a different business. That makes sense.

 

[Foxtrot08]

Thanks for the details! I didn't know what type of business this was until you mentioned it. So it's a pretty big deal in oil blending world but won't affect fuel prices since that is a different business. That makes sense.

They make and package the Super S brand, Pennzoil, Rotella and Quaker State for some of the U.S.

They also produce some house brands. Service pro as an example. But I know of many others that may come from there as a supply point. (As house brands may vary between supply points.)


So it’s going to be really interesting to me to see how this affects my market.

Off the shelf for normal DIY’er - shouldn’t be a big change. I’m sure Shell can pick up someone to bottle and box their branded oils. Pinnacle / Gordon / Warren-Highline / Amalie / etc. may have capacity to throughput it. We will see where that lands.

Smitty’s still has another facility in MS. But honestly the environmental liability and fire liability from all this may put them under. As, they don’t have the Warren Buffett money that Chem Tool did.

We will see. Just a pretty major event in my world. Because I know of a lot of competitors who rely on them. I refuse to do business with them, but I’m not going to bash people while they’re down. I hope the family recovers from this.

 

[Exhaustgases]

Yeah you have to like how all the nut cases treat mineral oil products as something more dangerous than say radioactive elements.
Its just a bit of oil on stuff for a little while in a year it will all be gone. Like where does it all come from? UFO's

 

[wemay]

Yeah you have to like how all the nut cases treat mineral oil products as something more dangerous than say radioactive elements.
Its just a bit of oil on stuff for a little while in a year it will all be gone. Like where does it all come from? UFO's

You're being pretty dismissive of the long-lasting effects this could have. Hardly humorous.

 

[4WD]

A couple late stage shots in this report - showing spread was extensive

 

[JimPghPA]

Theres likley a lot of chemistry besides byproducts of burnt hydrocarbons in the smoke from that fire. Rember, engine oil has additives. And that place mixed it all in. So quite a variety of chemistry will be in the fall out downwind from that place.

When this is all over, the bitog community should form a vertural circle around that plant and bow our heads in a minute of silence.

 

[addyguy]

That is bad, weh.
Really curious to see what happened to start it.
I hate to say it, but I will, be ready for big price increases…

 

[Foxtrot08]

That is bad, weh.
Really curious to see what happened to start it.
I hate to say it, but I will, be ready for big price increases…

Supposedly a lightning strike started it.

I had dinner with the owner of a very large blender last night who is a friend of mine. 140 million gallons a year went through that plant.

But there’s so much extra capacity in the market right now, if prices do go up it won’t be much.

 

[Exhaustgases]

You're being pretty dismissive of the long-lasting effects this could have. Hardly humorous.

View attachment 296928

There is way worse stuff than that. Do I need to elaborate?
Yeah its a mess, so your saying you don't like the main reason for BITOG?
Sure there are way better ways to arrange places like Smitty's so this kinda thing does not happen.
With out these places you won't have your motor oil, and many other products, then what?

And yeah its not good for composition roofs, nor all the cute woodsy critters and their drinking water, and poor little baby deer etc. that makes me sick. There needs to be a better way other than above ground tanks, that are susceptible to damage of any sort. I don't think hot sun beating on them everyday helps much either.

I'd hate to be dealing with that mess here, but would way prefer it over say Mount rainier spewing tons of micro fine heavy ash my way, as it would crush all the buildings not just coat them.

 

[Foxtrot08]

Yeah let’s not dismiss the environmental impact here. Mostly because it could, down the road, impact every oil blender / distributor going into the future. Much like how Chemtool did. The regulations and such that govern how we do business could get significantly more costly.

As for the design of the bulk farm and such, that is a very common layout. Not much you’re going to do differently because how plumbing works, etc.

Currently, the fire code is unfriendly to putting tanks inside. Because if you build a big enough building to house all your tanks, you then have to sprinkle it / put fire suppression in.

When you do that, the insurance companies frown upon it because of the environmental concerns if you do have a fire, significantly outweigh the impact of just letting it burn. So you’re caught in the middle there.

Not alot of good answers, just a bad situation overall. So let’s just see what shakes out here.

 

[JimPghPA]

Supposedly a lightning strike started it.

I had dinner with the owner of a very large blender last night who is a friend of mine. 140 million gallons a year went through that plant.

But there’s so much extra capacity in the market right now, if prices do go up it won’t be much.

This reminds me of a true story from many years ago that was told at the company I worked for that supplied electronic measuring equiptment.

Union-Carbide built a huge chemical processing plant in some state south of Pennsylvania. It was very similar in size to the one that had the disaster. in Bopaul India. It was built on ground with high elevation. One of the people in charge of how it was built decided to save the company one million dollars by not installing lightning protection. About a year after startup there was a big party honoring him because he saved them so much money. Shortly after that the first big lightning storm hit that plant, and the damage and cost of downtime far exceeded what he saved them. And to top it off, it cost more to properly install the lightning protection after the plant was built.

That was back in the second half of the 80's.

Every spring we still would get a shipment of circuit boards that were damaged by lightning. I had a log book of everything I repaired and what was fixed on it. After a while I began the log for their repairs with Union-Carbide aka el-lightning. Even after the protection was installed they still had some damage every spring.

An EE friend of mine once said, it takes 23 feet of rubber to stop a lightning bolt.

Diverting it is much easier, but still it takes a lot to do it right.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

They make and package the Super S brand, Pennzoil, Rotella and Quaker State for some of the U.S.

They also produce some house brands. Service pro as an example. But I know of many others that may come from there as a supply point. (As house brands may vary between supply points.)


So it’s going to be really interesting to me to see how this affects my market.

Off the shelf for normal DIY’er - shouldn’t be a big change. I’m sure Shell can pick up someone to bottle and box their branded oils. Pinnacle / Gordon / Warren-Highline / Amalie / etc. may have capacity to throughput it. We will see where that lands.

Smitty’s still has another facility in MS. But honestly the environmental liability and fire liability from all this may put them under. As, they don’t have the Warren Buffett money that Chem Tool did.

We will see. Just a pretty major event in my world. Because I know of a lot of competitors who rely on them. I refuse to do business with them, but I’m not going to bash people while they’re down. I hope the family recovers from this.

Question, since we've got warehouses with huge amounts flammable material but not hydrocarbons.... are there not some SERIOUS sprinkler systems required for gas/oil facilities like this? Our largest plant is about 950,000 square feet, and only about 450k of that is warehousing, but that plant has 40-some-odd fire pump stations positioned outside the building capable of about 55,000 gallons per minute total if all were activated. Obviously, the system is zoned and there are more sprinkler nozzles per SF where the flammables are stored. Seems like there should have been some way to at least prevent a total loss? Even when fires have gotten to the inside surfaces of our roofs, which are coated with dust, oil, paint and other flammable liquids, any conflagrations are usually kept to less than a few thousand square feet, max.