NEWS: Massive Explosion at Texas Refinery

A large explosion has rocked a Texas oil refinery today. There are reports that four people have been killed but that has not been confirmed by the owners BP Amoco



Gas prices may well jump after this due to the sheer size of the refinery, rumours of disruption to the supply may lead a jump in oil prices too. Terrorism has not been ruled out but the FBI are saying that is not thought to be under suspicious circumstances.

i posted this story too, since I missed this one-

It is interesting to me that different papers cover this story so differently. The Galveston paper gives examples of peoples' homes being affected (front window exploding) and dozens of people injured

yahoo keeps it brief as does reuters

Houston chronicle reports no intital casualties (they are 35 miles from the refinery, and area schools in Texas city are in lockdown)
galvestondailynews.com...

Must be something to do with panic control and massive amounts of black smoke in the air---


They are helping people to avoid the toxic fumes in some kind of fashion-
Called a lock in place- no one in or out-
Maybe it's because the crisis mgmt at BP is out of town- They are still holding a 'rescue mission', but it doesn't look good- 2000 employees altogether, but the fire is 1 whole mile of the west side of the complex

[edit on 23-3-2005 by accountability]

I'd like to keep an eye on the developments as to the reason for this accident come to light. It could be possible someone thought we were not paying enoungh for gas. I would not put it past the current adminstration to do or have involvement in something like this. My sympathy goes out to the familes of those who were hurt or lost their lives.

There have been repeated incidents of fires and explosions at this fire refinery. In fact one of the largest explosions was in 1947. It practically destroyed Texas City.

www.local1259iaff.org...

Wow, a new record. 3rd post accuses Busu of a "explosion' on our soil. And I thought I was paranoid thinking this could be the work or terrorist, foriegn or domestic.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

mod edit: fixed broken link

[edit on 23-3-2005 by Spectre]

Why is the evening news not carrying this? CNN's front page has nothing?

This is the first time i ever considered the possiblity of a mass media cover up... this is NEWS and no one is mentioning it. What the heck?

Possibly the "major media" isn't covering it because that plant has had so many explosion. This particular BP refinery is massive, and very very often certain units within it will catch fire. Only refineries don't just catch fire. They explode and then catch fire.

BBC News made it their second story for the 10pm news. Complete with video.

I'm guessing its not being covered because it would lead to an oil price jump and a pump price jump. Notice how it does NOT say how production is affected, which is the most important part of the story.

www.abovetopsecret.com...
from 3/31/04

They had a massive explosion and fire at the BP refinery also last year. I can't seem to find more articles on it, but I seem to remember this particular plant being the site for a number of fires and explosions.

This is pretty wierd. No mention on the news and I just called a friend in Dallas that hasn't heard a thing about it. Very odd.

Nerdling, you might want to check this number "It processes roughly 450 million barrels of crude oil each day. " We'd be swimming in oil if that's that's true.

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe

Nerdling, you might want to check this number "It processes roughly 450 million barrels of crude oil each day. " We'd be swimming in oil if that's that's true.

Direct from the source article:

"It processes roughly 450,000 barrels of crude oil each day.

That figure is approximately 3% of the US' domestic oil supply and one-third of BP's output across the US."



The power of the magic mouse button, mightier than 449,550,000 barrels of oil.

This is from Fox News.
More then 100 have been injured and 14 are feared to be dead as a result of this explosion.Most of the injuries are from cuts and broken bones. The explosion is said to have left a huge hole. It occured in a part of the plant that boosts the octane level in gasoline. One can expect even higher gas prices in the near future.

www.foxnews.com
A thunderous explosion tore through a BP oil refinery Wednesday, shooting flames and billowing smoke into the sky and showering the area with ash and chunks of charred metal. At least 14 were believed dead and more than 100 were injured.

Workers searched through rubble for survivors or bodies Wednesday night, several hours after the 1:20 p.m. blast.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately known. Most of the injured suffered broken bones, cuts, concussions and other injuries.

Site director Don Parus said BP was waiting on an official death toll confirmation from the medical examiner's office, but added, "it's my deep regret that we believe we have 14 losses of life."

Also from the article...

A refinery explosion forced the evacuation of the same plant for several hours in March. Afterward, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the refinery $63,000 for safety violations, including problems with its emergency shutdown system and employee training.

OSHA also fined the refinery after two employees were burned to death by superheated water in September.

It would appear from this, that the refinery does not have a very good safety record.

I've heard that the lack of refineries or the lack of building new ones to increase capacity is keeping gas prices up. I also heard that there is not much profit in that part of the business. What I don't understand is why. Is it because there is alot more profit in keeping supplies low? Maybe it's because the oil companies believe the refineries are going to be phased out over the coming decade or two with hydrogen becoming the major item sold to consumers instead of gas. I would like to hear the oil and car companies plans to change our economy from one where oil becomes gasoline to one where oil is used to make hydrogen. I've heard there is a plan and I'm sure these price increases are helping to speed this plan along. Maybe the oil companies are going to make more profit supplying hydrogen. I just don't know.

While I'm ranting about oil and gas, I would like to express my condolences to those killed in the accident. Any accident that harms or kills employees is sad to hear of.

OH NOES!!! This is like in the game Act of War when the T's blow up the refinery in Texas!!!

I'm sorry for the families of those killed in this explosion.

Is it a genuine accident or the energy execs paying some low level folks to keep them gas prices a rising? Or have the people had enough of being robbed by the energy barons and did someone decide to make a few of them pay? One thing for sure is none of us will ever know.

On second thought when the people get tired of the energy barons robbing us I think we'll be seeing the mansions of those like Ken Lay a burning. Naw - the world isn't perfect enough to see the real robbers robbed.

[edit on 24-3-2005 by outsider]

ah, a few more refineries shut down over the years to increase "efficiency" then whenever a refinery goes offline, gas prices skyrocket and never fully recover. Even when the plant is repaired or back online.

Now another one goes, and the pumps are raising prices on fuel that's been in their holding tanks for *two weeks*!

And the liberals and government drones say, "let them take the bus, or walk, or buy expensive hybrid cars"...or was that "let them eat cake"?

Biodiesel now!

I live right down the road from Texas City, so this story got constant coverage from ABC13. This is the second or third time this particular plant has exploded in the last year. The big oil companies refuse to update or fix all of these old plants. I guess it would cut too deep into their profit margin.

Most of the people that work in these plants are not even plant employees, they're contract workers from companies like HB Zachary, Munday, and Kellog Brown and Root. IMO, they are not skilled enough to be working in these places, so they make mistakes that cause catastrophes like this. The chemical plants don't want to pay for the higher wages and benefits that plant employees make, so they rarely higher new people, they just contract the work out. It's much cheaper for them this way.

Originally posted by Rabybaby
The chemical plants don't want to pay for the higher wages and benefits that plant employees make, so they rarely higher new people, they just contract the work out. It's much cheaper for them this way.

You make a great point raby - instead of hiring & training folks properly to do the work the companies contract work so the can not only make more money, but when something like this happens its a convent way to shift the blame and come out of it relatively unscathed.

This seems to be the corporate model these days - how many times have you called a company to complain or get something done & everyone you talk to passes the phone to someone else until you either loop back to the original person, get someones voicemail who's not available or they blame it on the computer. It's a professional game to pass the buck until they can get out of the way with their chunk of money.

www.reuters.com
DUBAI (Reuters) - Two Islamist groups have said they caused Wednesday's explosion at a Texas oil refinery which killed 15 people but the U.S. FBI said there was no evidence of "any criminal or terrorist activity."

An unknown group, calling itself al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in the United States of America, said it would issue a detailed statement and video of the attack later. The statement was posted on the Internet on Thursday.

Another group, Army of the Levant, also posted an Internet statement on Thursday claiming responsibility for the blast at the BP plant in Texas City, Texas.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the statements.

Originally posted by outsider

Originally posted by Rabybaby
The chemical plants don't want to pay for the higher wages and benefits that plant employees make, so they rarely higher new people, they just contract the work out. It's much cheaper for them this way.

You make a great point raby - instead of hiring & training folks properly to do the work the companies contract work so the can not only make more money, but when something like this happens its a convent way to shift the blame and come out of it relatively unscathed.

This seems to be the corporate model these days - how many times have you called a company to complain or get something done & everyone you talk to passes the phone to someone else until you either loop back to the original person, get someones voicemail who's not available or they blame it on the computer. It's a professional game to pass the buck until they can get out of the way with their chunk of money.

Unfortunately, Outsider, you are 100% correct. It makes it easier for them to shift the blame. Not only that, they don't have to pay the dead contracters families the millions that they would pay their deceased plant workers families. This way they save a lot of money and they get to pass the blame onto someone else.