The situation is getting serious into the amber level and this will have ripple effects on the rest of the economy, I am sure enough has happened already to trigger off symptoms of a minor depression but if any more oil refineries go down we will have a little more than a minor depression. How many oil refineries are out there in the world? THREE more have been hit in just one day, this is escalating. If I see another post of another refinery gone down or blown its top before the day is out I'll scream.

-- Brent Nichols (b-nichol@ihug.co.nz), January 19, 2000

Answers

95 inthe US

-- 8TH MAN (SSTOLOWSKI@TNNS.NET), January 19, 2000.

Once upon a time there was a man named Jed, poor mountaineer...

(Dont' worry, Brent, you are just experiencing the real world, the one behind the curtain of the mass media-over all rate of "failure" is probably less than 1 percent. Inventory reports on petroleum come out tomorrow.)

-- beverly hillbilly (oil@thatis.com), January 19, 2000.

My dear Mr. Nickols,

Sir I tried to say, over and over again, for the past year now. The embedded systems do not all have the same (real time) infinity dates failure exposures.

We still have 11 months to go. And the Fat Lady's song is a Lonnnnnggg one! An a truely sad one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shakey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Shakey (in_a_bunker@forty.feet), January 19, 2000.

8th Man (or is that # wrong too?),

RC claims less than 100, maybe thats where you got that figure. I don't agree. Oil and Gas Journal Refining issue cites 161 in the US and 755 worldwide.

-- Downstreamer (downstream@bigfoot.com), January 19, 2000.

I think we are seeing the reporting of these breakdowns in the oil sector and the subsequent quick market moves because oil, or the lack of, has far reaching consequences to many very rich and powerful people. They are moving swiftly to cover their b_tts. I think the seriousness of these oil problems make people scared shi_less. Also, the industry production problems are hard to cover up- lowering world production by hundreds of thousands of barrels a day is hard to hide. Compare the oil problem to other Y2k breakdowns like late child support payments or medicare reimbursements; although very important to those that it affects, it doesn't affect (scare) people at the top like oil.

Just my thoughts...

-- John Dodge (jddodge@aol.com), January 19, 2000.

DOWNSTREAMER- THE NUMBER 95 IS THE NUMBER OF OIL REFINERIES IN THE US ACCORDING TO ALL THE POSTS I'VE SEEN IN POSTS THAT LISTED THEM. NATURAL GAS FACILITIES??

-- 8TH MAN (SSTOLOWSKI@TNNS.NET), January 19, 2000.

Last year there were four reported refinery problems in all of January in the US. I have listed them below from the large table Robert Waldrop and I were keeping. Formatting is probably lousy, so please bear with that. Should be date, state, location, company, and reason. Based on the present reports it sounds like there is a statistically meaningful increase. If more come in, then it only gets more certain that there is a new factor driving it.

01/04/1999 Ohio Oregon fire 01/05/1999 Illinois Chicago HS release 01/09/1999 California Southgate fire & explosion 01/13/1999 Arkansas Smackover Cross Oil Naptha Valve

Michael Munn, PhD. Lockheed Chief Scientist, Retired

-- Michael Munn (kuti@theriver.com), January 19, 2000.

Oh Yeah, Doc? Just wait till John Krempaskjy shows up!! He'll tell you all where to go for statistics that prove that this happens every year at this time.

I think.

>"<

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@needanew.address), January 19, 2000.

Here is an interesting TB2000 thread from July 1999 regarding refinery explosions.

Thread

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), January 19, 2000.

Here is a comprehensive list of explosions thru august 1999.

FACTORY, GENERATING PLANT, PIPELINE EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), January 19, 2000.

I'm not going to format these, but the ratio is rather simular to the way it is today.

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0 015zD

http://www.justpeace.org/explosions.htm 8/13/90 California Carson Arco 8/24/90 California Shell 9/28/90 California Bakersfield San Joaquin Refinery broken seal on vacuum tower pump 8/8/91 California Wilmington Unocal crude oil spill 10/8/92 California Wilmington Texaco worn pipe 9/25/93 California Santa Fe Springs 12/1/94 California Torrance 6/1/95 California Rodeo Unocal 10/16/95 Pennsylvania Rouseville Pennzoil 1996, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Exxon Refinery explosion and chemical leak (private email) 4/11/96 Michigan Detroit Marathon 5/17/96 California Rodeo Unocal 10/19/96 Illinois Blue Island Clark Oil 11/11/96 California Los Angeles Texaco hydrotreater 1996, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Exxon Refinery explosion and chemical leak 1/22/97 California Martinez Tosco 5/13/97 Texas Corpus Christi 5/16/97 Minnesota St. Paul Park Ashland 6/22/97 Texas Houston Shell 11/8/97 Minnesota Rosemount Koch 1998 TOP March 4, 1998, Louisiana, Pitkin, Sonat oil separation facility March 27, 1998 Louisiana, Hanville, Union Carbide plant April 8, 1998, New Jersey, Paterson, Morton Specialty Chemical company, explosion July 2, 1998, Alaska, Homer, ammonia leak and explosion at a seafood processing plant, 7/4/98 Illinois Roxana airborne oil spray release 7/13/98 Oklahoma Ardmore fluid catalytic cracking unit fire July 15, 1998, Illinois, Commonwealth Edison, fire in coal fired electrical plant 7/23/98 Texas Texas City out of service rpu explosion July 28, 1998 Indiana Hammond Southern Energy generating plant (allegedly coal dust) 7/29/98 California Martinez smoky fire, crude oil unit 8/3/98 California Rodeo gas leak forced shut down August 19, 1998, California, Carson, Arco Oil Refinery, (explosion during welding) August 21, 1998, Ohio, Ironton, Allied Signal coal tar plant, one dead 8/24/98 Minnesota St. Paul Park Marathon-Ashland oil refinery 8/25/98 California Martinez Tosco oil refinery August 27, 1998, Missouri, Joplin, incinerator explosion, 1 killed, 2 injured, September 3, 1998, Oklahoma, Springer, two men are killed while repairing a pipeline (frozen to death by liquid nitrogen) September 25, 1998 Australia Victoria, Esso Longford, gas plant explosions September 28, 1998, Sioux Falls, SD, Woods Equipment Manufacturer, paint thinner reclaiming machine explodes when turned on, one killed 10/8/98 California Carson corp explosion & fire October 13, 1998, Maryland, Baltimore, Condea Vista Company, chemical plant explosion, benzene and hydrochloric acid released, nearby residents ordered to stay indoors 10/16/98 Pennsylvania Trainer Tosco jet fuel tank 10/18/98 Montana Laurel pipeline carrying diesel in oil refinery ruptures, explosion & fire 10/23/98 North Dakota Mandan crude oil unit fire October 24, 1998, gas well explosion kills 7, Louisiana, Bryceland, Sonat Exploration Company, (close to Shreveport) 11/23/98 Texas Pasadena 11/25/98 Washington Anacortes Equilon Puget Sound "coker" 12/11/98 Pennsylvania Trainer Tosco burning truck spread to oil pipeline 12/15/98 Texas Corpus Christi 1999 TOP January 2, 1999, Pennsylvania, West Chester, fire and explosions at Sartomer Co. chemical plant forces evacuations, January 3, 1999, Virginia, Wytheville, explosion at natural gas substation, 1500 customers lose service, visible 20 miles away, house and business destroyed. Roanoke times. 1/4/99 Ohio Oregon fire 1/5/99 Illinois Chicago HS release January 5 1999, Minnesota, transformer explosion at Prairie Island nuclear power station affects plant operations, caused one reactor to shut down. 1/9/99 California Southgate fire & explosion January 10, 1999, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, ABERDEEN AMERICAN NEWS, natural gas explosion in the base's environmental plant. January 12, 1999, Florida, Marieville, explosion at bolt-making plant kills 2 workers, THE MIAMI HERALD, Infasco corp. 1/13/99 Arkansas Smackover Cross Oil Naptha Valve, 3 deaths January 14, 1999 Duluth, Potlatch Corp strandboard plant, propane-fired pollution control device exploision, DULUTH NEWS-TRIBUNE January 21, 1999, state ? Columbus, machine explodes, kills worker, East Central Wax Co. LEDGER-ENQUIRER January 22 (?) 1999, Alabama, Bridgeport, natural gas line explosion, 3 killed, dozens of businesses damaged. LEDGER-ENQUIRER January 26, 1999, California, Long Beach, "plant explosion," PRESS-TELEGRAM, "gas may have ignited boxes". January 27, 1999 Canada, British Columbia, Taylor, Solex Gas Liquids Plant Explosion (caused by accidental gas leak) February 1, 1999 Michigan, Dearborn, power plant at Ford Rouge plant explodes, several workers killed, Ford manufacturing system thrown into disarray. February 7, 1999, Canada, Alberta, natural gas pipeline explosion, creates mushroom cloud seen 62 miles away. The Arizona Republic. 02/09/99, California, Dixon, liquid fertilizer tank explosion, one killed, two injured, CONTRA COSTA TIMES February 11, 1999, California, Hollister, explosion at explosive manufacturer, 1 death, Published on 03/05/99, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS February 17, 1999, Missouri, Kansas City, power plant explodes. 02/19/99, Indiana, FORT WAYNE, rail car explosion at cement plant, Journal Gazette February 19, 1999 Pennsylvania, Allentown, Concept Sciences plant, explosion during distillation of hydroxylamine, 5 killed, 14 injured February 23, 1999, Ohio, Dayton, Miami Valley Paper Company, explosion, fire, orange die leak (3 incidents in one day) 2/24/99 California Martinez Tosco refinery 2/24/99 Indiana Lamont crude oil unit fire February 24, 1999, Miami Florida, Transformer fire (near I595 and US 441) February 26, 1999, California, San Bernardino County, STORAGE TANK BLAZE CAUSES EVACUATION OF POWER PLANT: SOLAR FACILITY: LIQUID EXPLODES; AIR TRAFFIC HAS TO BE RE-ROUTED. February 26, 1999, Massachusetts, Springfield, Jahn Foundry, one killed, 11 injured. 3/4/99 Washington Anacortes explosion in polymerization unit Published on 03/08/99, Michigan, Plainwell, natural gas line explosion THE JOURNAL GAZETTE GAS PIPELINE BLAST LIGHTS MICHIGAN SKY PLAINWELL, Mich. -- March 25, 1999, Boston Globe, analysts say the Ukraine is so broke it has stopped funding most nuclear reactor safety maintenance. 3/25/99 California Richmond Chevron refinery; due to a glitch, warning phone calls relating to the explosion went to Martinez instead of the nearer neighbors in Richmond. March 27, 1999, explosion in magnesium dust collection system, Olney Bicycle parts plant, Evansville Courier and Pres (Illinois), Weinmann Inc. March 29, 1999, Michigan, Osseo, Professional Fireworks Company, 4 dead (had a previous explosion 12-98, 7 deaths, business closed down after this last explosion)(. 4/2/99 California Torrance isobutane leak April 6, 1999, Ohio, East Akron, Forest Technical Corp, tank explosion (wax vat) April 8, 1999, Tampa, Florida, TECO Energy Company power plant explosion (hydrogen leak), 3 killed, 49 injured, 39 hospitalized (Miami Herald, eventually blamed on worker) On April 9, 1999, article appeared in the Bradenton (Florida) Herald, stating that almost all power plants use hydrogen to cool their generators. . . "It must be used in a closed system." I am reminded of the Hindenburg (not an explosion story, just a reminder.) April 13, 1999, South Carolina, Orangeburg, chemical plant explosion, 1 killed, 1 seriously injured, The State April 14, 1999, Arizona, Tempe, Heraeus Amersil, hydrogen supply line explosion, Arizona Republic April 14, 1999, Tampa, Florida, power plant explosion (hydrogen leak), 2 killed (? same as April 8 above?) 4/14/99 Washington Anacortes Equilon Puget Sound acid leak April 15, 1999, Indiana, Notre Dame, fire and explosion in power plant of Notre Dame University, 2 injured. April 15, 1999, Tennessee, Toone, Kilgore Operations Plant explosion (munitions) 4/19/99 Indiana Whiting jet fuel cracking unit April 20, 1999, Indiana, Gary, BP Amoco explosion and fire, leaking jet fuel in crude refining unit, Post Tribune April 21, 1999, Schuykill County, Pennsylvania, Copperhead Chemical Co., explosion in mixing and packing section, pharmaceutical manufacturer, 2 killed April 23, 1999, Illinois, Evansville (?), Rubber shredding facility explosion, 100 firefighters summoned, Evansville Courier Press 4/25/99 Oklahoma Tulsa coker restart April-May 1999 (date uncertain), Holly Power Plant, Austin, Texas, fire. 5/7/99 Texas Pasadena Lyondell-Citgo coker May 12, 1999, Alabama, Decatur, Daikin America chemical plant explosion, 3 dead, Ledger Enquirer May 13, 1999 Korea Ulsan refinery fire (world's largest refinery) May 14, 1999, Coastal Corp refinery explosion, 10 injured, Greensboro News Record, location ? 5/14/99 Texas Corpus Christi Coast gasoline production unit May 18, 1999, South Carolina, Cardenal Chemical Company, fire, The State May 24, 1999, Ahaz, Iran, gas pipeline explosion (during a repair), 70 injured, San Jose Mercury June 1, 1999, Pennsylvania, Conway (and elsewhere) rail problems/congestion/missing late loads, unknown destinations begin as a result of computer problems incident to the merger of Conrail and Norfolk Southern railroads. June 10, 1999. Washington, Bellingham, 250,000 gallons gasoline leak into creek, explode, kill 3 young people, could have been much worse, computer failure 6/14/99 Tennessee Memphis leak from storage tank 6/23/99 California Torrance Mobil 6/24/99 Texas Houston July 1, 1999, Missouri, Jackson County (KC), Missouri Public Service substation explodes. July ? 1999, Louisiana, Convent, Zeno chemical plant fire and explosion (private email) July 5, 1999 Louisiana, Grammercy alumina plant explosion (24 workers injured) Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Company July 6, 1999, California, Los Angeles, produce district warehouse explosion, 1 killed July 7, 1999, DC, Washington, Office of Pipeline Safety issues advisory to pipeline operators advising them to check computer systems in the wake of the computer problems that caused the Bellingham explosion. July 6-7, 1999, blackouts in New York City, (not explosion related, just a footnote.) July 7, 1999, Nuclear Regulatory Commission announces that 1/3 of active nuclear power plants in the US are not y2k compliant at this time. July 9, 1999, Texas, Panola County, near Beckville, 30 inch natural gas pipeline explosion and fire (reported in Shreveport media, fire was 400 yards long and hundreds of feet in the air) 7/10/99 California Chevron July 11, 1999, Alaska, whistleblowers report that the Alaskan Pipeline is in imminent danger of an explosion or other accident causing damage "much worse" than the Exxon Valdez incident. July 12, 1999, Rio Rancho NM y2k sewer problem July 12, 99 Japan, Fukui Prefecture, radiation leak (250X safety limit) July 13, 1999, North Sea, Britannia gas field, production is halted due to a gas leak. July 14, 1999, President Clinton establishes National Infrastructure Assurance Council, July 14, 1999, Chemical reaction container overheats, sends 25 to hospital, Azusa, California July 15, 1999, CNN reports "somber faces" and bad news at a Senate hearing on y2k readiness of cities. July 16, 1999, 100,000 phone lines knocked out by fire in Toronto, has domino effect as far away as Vancouver. July 16(?), 99, California Richmond Chevron (2nd at 03-25-99 plant incident) July 16, 1999, Maryland, Baltimore, Bethlehem Steel (explosion during a spraying/coating operation) (Baltimore Sun) July 17, 1999, Phone service lost in parts of Canada due to fire. July 17, 1999, Pennsylvania, Harleysville, metal manufacturing facility, Philadelphia Inquirer July 20, 1999, Chemical spill, Iowa City, Iowa Sometime around July 19-20, explosion in Oolagah, Oklahoma, perhaps a transformer fire at a generating plant (still accumulating details on this one). Sometime around "week before July 29th", 1999, Board of Public Utilities Nearman Power Plant in Kansas City, Kansas, conveyor fire takes plant out of operation. July 25, 1999, Cartagena, Colombia, transformer/generator explosion, six killed, "during routine maintenance." July 26, 1999 Sibbald crude oil production valley, Arcadia Valley, Alberta, Canada, explosion and fire, one worker killed July 28, 1999, Mobile Oil Company refinery explosion, Torrance, California August 5, 1999, Bulgarian power plant "unexpectedly" shuts down, blackout throughout Kosovo. August 9, 1999, Hub Oil Company, Alberta, Canada, oil recycling plant, explosion and fire. August 9, 1999, Citgo Refinery, Corpus Christi, Texas, 1 worker killed, August 10, 1999, Chevron Gas Plant, Wortham, Texas August 10, 1999, gas pipeline explosion, Austin, Texas August 11, 1999, Refinery explosion and fire, Dallas, Texas.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), January 19, 2000.

Dream on Cherri!!!

Your Pal, Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), January 19, 2000.

Cheri.....Nice try....Everyone's been scrambling the last 2 years to do remediation. These numbers just prove the embedded issue has taken us to the edge....!

-- fred (gnomer@the.edge), January 19, 2000.

If you look in the arkives , there is a list of refinery accidents since 1990. The first few years fit on one page,98was a couple of pages and 99(seems like it July or August)was 4or5 pages and running. Perhaps big dog or the link man know were to find it

-- (freeman@interx.net), January 19, 2000.

I repeat ,99was very exposive year,96,97 we far fewer accident

-- (freeman@interx.net), January 19, 2000.

I had the thoroughly unsubstantiated feeling that the increase in incidents in 1999 reflected pre-rollover testing. As I recall, the numbers increased into mid year and then dropped off quite suddenly. If so, the 1999 numbers aren't representative of normal operations and may not be an appropriate comparison (a/k/ JHK style) to what we are seeing now.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), January 19, 2000.

The 99' increase in refinery failures (June/July) fits in exactly with the 18 month time frame I have tried to inform people about in this forum for the past ,nearly a year now..We have still 11 1/2 months to go. And I expect the pace to get rather frantic in the months of Feb/Mar/April/Jun...

Incidently Cherri. Your research was excellent (a Little hard to read though). Surprising that such amaturish formatting comes from one so professional as you dear lady..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shakey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Shakey (in_a_bunker@forty.feet), January 19, 2000.

Cherri's list is a lot easier to read if you right-click and select view source.

-- Mary (bittwork@aol.com), January 19, 2000.

Mistress Mary

Thank you for the hint on how to unravel Mistress Cherri's post. The other way was a little "heavy" on the eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shakey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Shakey (in_a_bunker@forty.feet), January 20, 2000.

Yup, THIS is the Beginning Of The End. Been wrong every other time, but THIS is it. Stands to reason. ;p

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), January 20, 2000.

In order to put Cherri's information in perspective I did the following:

1.  Formatted it to be readable
2.  Threw out everything that can not be linked to refinery incidents.  This included gas line explosions (separate category), manufacturing explosions, power plant explosions, comments on Senate hearings, and other surperflous listings.
3.  Total the number of incidents per year.
4.  Tabulated the peak and average monthly incidents for 1998 and 1999.  Prior year reports were very sparse, and probably do not reflect the actual numbers.......can anyone believe there was only 1 refinery incident in 1991, and that one was an oil spill?

A summary is:
Year         & nbsp;      Incidents        Mon. Avg        Mon. Peak
1990          &n bsp;     3
1991          &n bsp;     1
1992          &n bsp;     2
1993          &n bsp;     1
1994          &n bsp;     1
1995          &n bsp;     2
1996          &n bsp;     5
1997          &n bsp;     5
1998          &n bsp;     13           &n bsp;        1           &nb sp;        3
1999          &n bsp;     19           &n bsp;        1.5           & nbsp;     3

Details

1990  --  (3)
8/13/90 California Carson Arco
8/24/90 California Shell
9/28/90 California Bakersfield San Joaquin Refinery broken seal on vacuum tower pump

1991 -- (1)
8/8/91 California Wilmington Unocal crude oil spill

1992 -- (2)
10/8/92 California Wilmington Texaco worn pipe

1993 -- (1)
9/25/93 California Santa Fe Springs

1994 -- (1)
12/1/94 California Torrance

1995 -- (2)
6/1/95 California Rodeo Unocal
10/16/95 Pennsylvania Rouseville Pennzoil

1996  -- (5)
1996, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Exxon Refinery explosion and chemical leak (private email)
4/11/96 Michigan Detroit Marathon
5/17/96 California Rodeo Unocal
10/19/96 Illinois Blue Island Clark Oil
11/11/96 California Los Angeles Texaco hydrotreater

1997 -- (5)
1/22/97 California Martinez Tosco
5/13/97 Texas Corpus Christi
5/16/97 Minnesota St. Paul Park Ashland
6/22/97 Texas Houston Shell
11/8/97 Minnesota Rosemount Koch

1998 -- (13)
March 4, 1998, Louisiana, Pitkin, Sonat oil separation facility
7/13/98 Oklahoma Ardmore fluid catalytic cracking unit fire
7/29/98 California Martinez smoky fire, crude oil unit
8/3/98 California Rodeo gas leak forced shut down
August 19, 1998, California, Carson, Arco Oil Refinery, (explosion
during welding)
August 21, 1998, Ohio, Ironton, Allied Signal coal tar plant, one dead
8/24/98 Minnesota St. Paul Park Marathon-Ashland oil refinery
8/25/98 California Martinez Tosco oil refinery
10/16/98 Pennsylvania Trainer Tosco jet fuel tank
10/18/98 Montana Laurel pipeline carrying diesel in oil refinery
ruptures, explosion & fire
10/23/98 North Dakota Mandan crude oil unit fire
11/23/98 Texas Pasadena
12/15/98 Texas Corpus Christi

1999 -- (19)
1/13/99 Arkansas Smackover Cross Oil Naptha Valve, 3 deaths
2/24/99 California Martinez Tosco refinery
2/24/99 Indiana Lamont crude oil unit fire
3/25/99 California Richmond Chevron refinery;
4/2/99 California Torrance isobutane leak
4/19/99 Indiana Whiting jet fuel cracking unit
April 20, 1999, Indiana, Gary, BP Amoco explosion and fire, leaking  jet fuel in crude refiningunit
May 13, 1999 Korea Ulsan refinery fire (world's largest refinery)
May 14, 1999, Coastal Corp refinery explosion, 10 injured, Greensboro
5/14/99 Texas Corpus Christi Coast gasoline production unit
6/23/99 California Torrance Mobil
6/24/99 Texas Houston
7/10/99 California Chevron
July 16(?), 99, California Richmond Chevron (2nd at 03-25-99 plant incident)
July 26, 1999 Sibbald crude oil production valley,
July 28, 1999, Mobile Oil Company refinery explosion, Torrance, California
August 9, 1999, Hub Oil Company, Alberta, Canada, oil recycling plant, explosion and fire.
August 9, 1999, Citgo Refinery, Corpus Christi, Texas,
August 11, 1999, Refinery explosion and fire, Dallas, Texas.

-- rocky (rknolls@no.spam), January 20, 2000.