I have heard through the grapevine, that the oil suppliers in the Golden Triangle of Texas/Louisianna are going to shut down their refineries during the weeks of Christmas and New Years, According to the Chevron Dealer in our Area, they have been told that the best case scenario is that we will be without gasoline/diesel fuel for a couple of weeks, the worst case is that we will see the fireball from here in NE Texas. Can anyone confirm this story?

-- Andy Stevens (afs@lcc.net), November 25, 1999

Answers

Scary.....okay, please add some credibility to it by telling us the name of the Chevron Dealer and where his company is.

After all, if he is privy to such important information and says nothing and a fireball kills a bunch of people, then perhaps he would be criminally responsible for not taking steps to alert the public of the danger.........

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), November 25, 1999.

Craig

the US has this law about chem plants and releasing info. I wonder if the refineries have the same rule. Regardless a bit more info wouldn't hurt if one of the others (downstreamer or ?) could confirm this. I have not heard anything about refineries shutting down yet.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 25, 1999.

Seems like another scary rumor to me, but prob just that. I have heard of quite a few refineries planning to run at reduced rates during the roll, but not shutting down altogether. Like any situation you're going to see a mix of responses, but most will likely hunker around one solution. That solution looks like reduced rates to me.

If things start to go bad, it will allow them more flexibility in shutting down or bypassing units if they're not running full tilt.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), November 25, 1999.

There are a number of processes taking place in a normal refinery. Some of these cannot be stopped without major damage to the physical plant (not to mention spoiling whatever they are concocting). I do know that most refineries in the Atlantic states are planning on stopping all the processing that they can over that weekend. My cousin works at Atlantic Richfield in Ashland Ky, a friend at Chevron in Mobile and still another at the cracking plant in Nashville. ALL of them have the weekend off for the rollover....Why? Because the major processing part of the reinery is shut down. Supposedly, this is to allow 'time to celebrate with their families'. However, none of them have had Christmas or New Years off for the last several years. Draw your own conclusions.

Andy, you might want to check the archives here for a story that ran on the front page of the Houston Chronicle around the first of the year. You also can find it in the Chronicle's archives. They discussed what they were afraid might happen in the Galveston/Houston area if repairs were not made in time to the control systems. Not even a worst-case scenario and it sounded bad.

-- Lobo (atthelair@yahoo.com), November 25, 1999.

Craig, in answer to what supplier and where they are? They are the Chevron Supplier from Beaumont Texas, I work part-time at a Chevron here in Lufkin. The former manager of the Chevron I work for told me that he was told by Chevron what I have previously said. I cannot confirm, or deny it will happen, as I suppose no-one else can, until Jan 1. The Chevron Stations here in Lufkin and Nacogdoches are owned by (Should I say the name of the oil company ?) If anyone can check this out, I would appreciate it. Thanks

-- Andy Stevens (afs@lcc.net), November 25, 1999.

Brian:

I posted way back on several of the older oil and gas threads [about two-three weeks ago] the exact official quote and source for this "70% of US refineries will not be remediated in time" quote.

I'm just recovering from a major crash on one of our big data computers [it's repaired, back up, and has days of re-indexing its big disks ahead of it :(] or I'd send you the exact quote. If you can't find it, let me know: I should be able to grab it off that computer afresh then and re-post it.

It's starting to get very chilly at night here in Ontario, and I occasionally find myself glancing wistfully westward at temperate B.C. Better make some space out there for the last-minute rush from the East - that is, if we can make it over the Rockies in time after those winter snows start falling!

Darn! I always intended to make that move 'sometime', too - wonder how long it will take by covered wagon after Y2K....

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), November 26, 1999.

John mentioned

Brian:

I posted way back on several of the older oil and gas threads [about two-three weeks ago] the exact official quote and source for this "70% of US refineries will not be remediated in time" quote.

John

Really it has to take a corp. saying that they are shutting down plants to get my attention. Just like the pipelines.

Sorry to hear about the chilly weather back east. You are correct that it is nicer here. Sunny and reasonable today. Ho Hum nice day for a hike :o)

-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 26, 1999.

Brian:

A hike - who's got time for a hike? What a laid-back bunch you Westerners are :)!

I had also posted to one of those oil and gas threads the article from the HOUSTON CHRONICLE mentioned above. You'll probably find some corporate names and statements there.

We've probably got later reports tucked away on that computer's giga- continents, but I'm feeling distinctly blind and helpless until they're re-indexed and available to us once again!

Watch out for my 'prairie schooner' coming through the passes next summer:)

FWIW, the computer guy who spent some days repairing/replacing on that system mentioned to me, apropos of Y2K, that he was very interested at this point in finding any information he could on woodworking skills and techniques and on food-storage.....

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), November 26, 1999.

Andy:

I have never worked in a refinery, but back in my engineer days I did work on continuous process facilities. Our accidents occurred during shut-down or start-up [that was a long time ago and maybe they have changed the rules]. We could handle things during continuous process. If refineries shut down, they must be really unsure of their status. It would be too big of a gamble otherwise. Will you know if they shut-down? Probably not.

Best wishes

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), November 26, 1999.

John

Yes we are pretty laid back out here on the Island :o)

Here is an interesting little tid bit

From the Globe and Mail

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

LIFE AFTER Y2K

"I believe things will be even bigger after Jan. 1. There'll be a lull for three or four months, then everyone's going to realize all the other stuff they have to do, and start going like crazy," says Jennifer McNeill, president of Cipher Systems, a major Y2K-fix firm in Calgary. For the past few years, she's done work for 200 clients ranging from Amoco to Telus to the British Columbia Ministry of Health.

Snip

There may even be some disasters, at that. Out in Calgary, McNeill says, a "frightening" number of mid-sized oil and gas companies have done almost nothing to deal with the Y2K problem. "They're just hoping for the best. They figure their entrepreneurial spirit will get them through," she marvels. In one case, she saw a company lawyer quit the firm for fear of having to deal with endless Y2K litigation.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 26, 1999.