Energy: The Body Count for the week Jan. 23-29

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This is made up spur of the moment, and if I missed something please append it:

Texas: Two major natural gas pipeline explosions.

LA: Major gas pipeline explosion.

Russia: National fuel emergency. Add to Ukraine and Zimbabwe.

US Nukes: Four SCRAMS and one cutback to 57% (Hatch, Millstone II, Turkey Point IV, and Yankee SCRAMMED if memory serves correctly, with a fifth cutting back output.) Okie dokie.

Massachusetts: Diesel is well over 2.00 at the pump, while heating oil is not far behind - around 1.90. Heating oil deliveries limited to 200 gallons on Cape Ann (if you're lucky).

Norway: Diesel hits the equivilant of $5 and truckers go on strike.

Ukraine: Chernobyl shuts down.

Cleveland: Contaminated kerosene discovered.

New Zealand: Contaminated diesel discovered.

Helena, MT: Asarco refinery explosion.

British Borneo: Pipeline (oil) rupture.

Abu Dhabi: 900 tons of crude goes down in weather related accident.

Singapore: BP declares Force Majeuere on two large oil contracts.

USA: HEAT USA declares a natural gas shortage in the US is contributing to the oil shortage.

USA: Argus declares the possibility of gasoline shortages in the US in spring.

Portland: Kerosene, a major heating oil in Maine, almost impossible to get.

-- paul leblanc (bronyaur@gis.net), January 29, 2000

Answers

As any good polly knows, things blow up all the time. Why we are constantly assured that many ATM's are out of service at any given time. Although, must be lucky because I have yet to witness one exploding.

Seems a lot of refineries that are working, maybe they ain't working so well.

-- Squid (ItsDark@down.here), January 29, 2000.


Thanks for the summary Paul.

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), January 29, 2000.


Don't forget Australia and its HUGE aviation fuel contamination. Actually Paul, you're probably missing quite a few but who can keep up. The pollies would say that all these occurences are normal just not reported in one place ever before. I beg to differ. (Maybe Australia happened the week before but that still doesn't help the air fleet that's still grounded this week). Just the same thanks for the summary.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 29, 2000.

OOOPS, Helena is a smelter, not a refinery.

the fire was in the bag room.

C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 29, 2000.


Never got word on the Soviet nuke sub graveyard that our boys were suppose to be assisting....still wondering about that one.....

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 29, 2000.


>>Helena, MT: Asarco refinery explosion

Actually while this occured, there are several errors. Asarco is a metals refinery (arsenic, tin, copper) that sort of thing. And it was a fire, not an explosion. And it was in the paper bag house. This stuff happens all the time in chem processing plants. Monthly perhaps in the hot weather.

Used to work in a chem plant in tideflats Tacoma and the bags were always catching fire.

Just to be accurate.....



-- pliney the younger (pliney@puget.sound.cold_ish), January 29, 2000.


Clarifation.

ASARCO Bag House Explosion. A "bag house" is the end point for the pollution abatement and dust collection system. At ASARCO ore is refined by reducing the rock and metal oxide at high temperature above melting point. A lot of dust laden hot smoke is evacuated from the smelter via the automated pollution controlsystem. An explosion in the baghouse could be a Y2K problem in that cooling water in the evacuation system between the smelter and the bag house was lost and the temperature in the bag house exceeded falsh point.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), January 29, 2000.


flash point.

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), January 29, 2000.

You might now add Nigeria to the 'force majuier' crowd. I think this came acrossthe wires last night. Also SIngapore in FM camp now.

-- ..- (dit@dot.dash), January 30, 2000.

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