Posted: 9/22/2006 8:51:39 PM EDT
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I don't see it in the news, but I'm on a drilling rig in the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana. There's a huge fire at a refinery across the bay in Sabine Pass Texas. I don't know if its an Oil and Gas refinery or not. Anyone hear anything? After several hours the fire has gone out. Don't know what was happening there, but it looked entirely to large to be a controled fire. |
Crap gas prices are going to go back up now.....  ETA: Nothing on Drudge. |
If the story turns out to be true, I bet you dollars to dounghnuts that it will NOT raise the prices. At best they might Not go lower but they wont go higher. We all know the reason though some of us are in denial about it. |
you at the Rowan dock? please tell me you're not on one of those rusted-out Poole rigs. The reason i asked is I used to run one of those ECO anchor boats leased to Rowan. |
So, you think I'm lying? 
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No, I'm on a rusted out Todco inland barge. I'm at the Marine Feul dock. Not real familiar with the area, that's why I don't know if its a gas refinery. |
trying to picture in my head where you are. are there two Semi-submersibles parked on the west bank to the south of you? I think that dock you're at is just to the north of the Rowan dock, but i haven't been there in over 2 years. ETA: no, i think you're about 10 miles or so to the north of that. I believe i know the refinery you're talking about, but i can't remember it's name. |
So it could be something else on fire? |
I'll bite. What the hell are you talking about? |
(Shush..... "They" are just bringing the price down for the election. Haaaaliburtonnnn!!!! ) |
I can see a big ass bridge(in the daytime) and a refinery to my north/NW, I can't actually see the Gulf to the south but you can tell its there due to the vast emptyness on the landscape. The refinery on fire seems to be almost due west (don't have a compass on me). just to my east is nothing but marshes. |
Dear god. Is there a way to reach out a slap the short-bus riders who honestly buy that crap? I mean seriously, there should be a device where each sane member of a web forum can remotely bitch slap these nut-jobs. [presses red button repeatedly] |
I BELIEVE I know were you are, IIRC that is an oil refinery, but I might be wrong. Is it the one right on the bank on the west side? |
Don't grab your tinfoil hat just yet, but guess what oilfield service company I work for 
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Yep, stocks are high and downward pressure is huge. |
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Elections will keep prices low? Ha! "Isn't it clever how they set up election day to be in November (after the crops were in) back in the horse-powered agrarian age of this country, knowing that in a couple of hundred years there would be internal combustion engines using petroleum distillates, with peak demand in the summer time, followed by the not-yet-invented Labor Day holiday that would mark the end of the summer driving season and the beginning of the then-nonexistent public school system year, to help the not-yet-invented Republican party win? I accuse Karl Rove of time travel." Above quote owed to new_RRA_user, BTW. |
Sadly, that's how most of the country would view it also. |
I care...but until I know whats actually going on Im going to pretend the sky isnt falling. |
Wow. Nobody disputes that you can't manipulate elections in November, however you can manipulate gas prices in time for elections. Now GW can say "Look, I brought you low gas prices for a month!" while his fingers are crossed behind his back and prices go back up in December, just in time for winter.... |
Does he have some lever in the oval office that controls the supply, distribution, refinement, the futures contracts, and global demand? Seriously, what impact does a he have on such factors? |
I think you need to read that one more time. |
Am I the only one that thinks he just proved the statement he is trying to argue against? |
The flare burnoff can be seen every night from where I'm at, this definately wasn't a flare. It was much larger and looked to be at ground level. Maybe I'm crazy, the news still hasn't said anything.  eta: Do they burn off stuff on the ground also? |
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I don't much believe they are manipulating gas prices for the election. But it would be ok if they did. We have established that we are too stupid to govern ourselves; (Clinton elected twice!) So stop and think: would you rather have one of those henhouse floor character liberal moron democraps running the country? CC Ryder |
Yes, temporary flares are used all the time in the pipeline repair industry. No time to build a tower. Just don't do it in the middle of a dry cane field! Usually, such flares are sited on a pad of gravel. To keep the smoke low, a LOT of air must be supplied and if the gravel is say, oyster shell, it has LOTS of dust with it. Some of the dust mixes with the combustion air, making the flame white-bright. Naturally, the gravel isn't allowed to enter the combustion fans but it is hard to stop the dust. And then there is cooling water. To keep things safer, cooling water is sometimes sprayed around and even into the flare. Since it is probably brackish, the salt in the water gives the flames an intense yellow color from the sodium. If you had a homemade transmission spectrometer (diffraction grating and a slit), it would be easy to identify the sodium lines. Kind of a sick yellow color. Now why a temporary flare? Well, if a pipeline undergoes soft failure under pressure and is shut-in, the pressure HAS to be released before work can begin and if it has several thousand PSI and is miles long, there is a good bit of gas to be flared. |
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I worked at the Motiva Refinery in Port Arthur for 32 years. There are several oil refineries in the Port Arthur area. Sabine Pass 10 miles south of Port Arthur, but has no refineries there. I haven't heard anything yet. Believe it or not, an oil fire makes an awful lot of smoke and often looks much worse that it actually is. Still haven't seen anything on the news. It will have to be a fairly large one, or have injuries, to be reported. It may surprise you to know that, even if it is an "accident", the refinery will recieve heavy fines for release of hydrocarbons. Ever those "flares" that were mentioned will result in a fine, if not "permitted", with the proper permits, beforehand. |
We light these up everyday at work..... training personnel to respond and safely handle them...   Painless.... I know you have worked a few....I have been in your plant. Lots of expansion in the Gulf....BP, Exxon, Chevron, etc. Sabine Pass.....been there, done that.....rather large flying object called mosquito hangs out there. take care gents.... |
The Brayton Firefighting School. Did the offshore course back in '02. In August. Hotter than hell inside that Liberty Ship engine room fire even under full turnout gear. |