Oil -- More OPIS Alerts, Marcus Hook Oil Inlet Pipe Shut Down

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Things seem to be going to hell in a handbasket

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2000-01-19 10:11:34 EST
***PENNZOIL REFINERY EXPLOSION SHUTS FACILITY
   An explosion Tuesday night at Pennzoil's Shreveport, LA refinery complex
has forced closure of the facility. One person was critically injured in the
blast, out of 35 people who were said to be on site at the time of the
accident.
   Reports are that the 50,000 b/d facility will remain down for an
indefinite period of time. The fire was brought under control in about two
hours. The product involved in the accident reportedly was naphtha.
   The facility, which Pennzoil recently said was being "shopped around,"
has attracted interest from several suitors, with Louisiana based Calumet
reportedly interested in purchasing the facility. Calumet operates
facilities in Cotton Valley and Princeton, LA. Pennzoil officials did not
return calls as of presstime.
                                                 Diane T. Miller

2000-01-19 11:24:35 EST
***SUNOCO FIRE AT TOLEDO REFINERY RESULTS IN ONE INJURY
   A flash fire at Sunoco's 135,000 b/d Toledo, Ohio refinery this morning
has resulted in one injury but a refinery spokesperson told OPIS that
production has not been impacted by the accident.
   According to the Sunoco spokesperson, the "flash fire" broke out in
Plant 3 of the complex as vapors coming out of the crude unit heaters
ignited causing the brief blaze.
   One worker, a woman, was taken to the local hospital and is being
treated for burns. Sunoco said they would update the status of the employee
and the refinery operations later this afternoon.
 
                                 - Mark Mahoney - mmahoney@opisnet.com

2000-01-19 12:39:08 EST
***SUNOCO HAVING CRUDE LINE PROBLEM AT MARCUS HOOK REFINERY
   New York spot trading sources tell OPIS that Sunoco is having a problem
with a crude line that connects its docking facilities to the 175,000 b/d
Marcus Hook refinery in Philadelphia.
   Sources say that Sunoco has reportedly been a "big buyer" in the Harbor
spot market today and has put some of its suppliers on allocation.
   The loss of crude flow to the refinery has made it very difficult for
Sunoco to create feedstock for its 85,000 b/d catcracker, which is impacted
its ability to make gasoline and distillate components.
   Spot sources say the loss of product has shoot up spot premiums to the
NYMEX. At presstime, high sulfur was 6cts over the Feb. futures print,
while low sulfur diesel was 7cts over. Kerosene is a whooping 21cts over.
   Calls to Sunoco for comment were not returned at presstime.
 

-- rocky (rknolls@no.spam), January 19, 2000

Answers

wow! anyone have any idea how many refineries there are in the world? or at least in the U.S?

-- JoseMiami (caris@prodigy.net), January 19, 2000.

This really makes me wonder about those safety systems that should be monitoring these facilities...how many problems have come up in just the last week? This is amazing.

Mike

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-- Mike Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), January 19, 2000.


Mike, the real amazing part is how much we will be paying at the pumps and so forth once the dust settles.....$1.39 at the shell on the corner for unleaded and $1.59 for the good stuff. *)* oh my

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), January 19, 2000.

I can't tell you what the number of refineries is, but for perspective on just how horrible the safety record in the petrochemical industry, check out the 1999 re-publication of the 1980s book, _Normal Accidents_ by Charles Perrow. Fascinating reading about why things go wrong in complex systems: nukes, aviation, shipping, various industrial plants, etc. The 1999 edition has a section at the end on Y2K (I am 2/3 of the way through the book, and haven't read ahead, so can't yet tell you what Perrow has to say about Y2K!)

Bottom line for this thread, we must keep in mind that refineries apparently have a truly abysmal safety record, especially for the workers there (and occasionally for neighboring communities). None of which helps us assess whether the current spate of accidents represents an elevated rate of mayhem, and whether bad chips or code is the cause.

--Andre in southcentral Pennsylvania

-- Andre Weltman (aweltman@health.state.pa.us), January 19, 2000.


Mike, it is a good bet that the safety systems have the most embedded systems! Check with a company like Beck, that did inventories of embedded systems for many utilities and see which systems contained the most embeddeds, I'll bet it was communications and emergency/safety monitoring and back ups.

-- rumdoodles (rumdoodles@yahoo.com), January 19, 2000.


consumer, exactly.

Right now in So Cal finding regular unleaded for $1.30+ is a great deal. Super is a great buy at $1.49 so we don't have far to go to reach those price levels.

Everything is gonna get much more expensive if this keeps up.

Mike

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-- Mike Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), January 19, 2000.


91 refineries is my understanding.For fuels. Not plastics, chemicals.In the USA.



-- pliney the younger (pliney@puget.sound.going.solar), January 19, 2000.


Ow-ie! Ooch, that smarts!

Anyone know if there is a chart online that'll list all refineries, quarter outputs, and % refinery contributes to US daily use?

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 19, 2000.


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