We all better hope sure as hell that Port Fourchon DOES NOT take a direct hit from a potential strong Category 4 Hurricane Katrina.  If the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) takes a hard hit, we'll be paying $3.50+ at the pump really really fast!  Hold your breath that the storm keeps well east of the platforms and Port Fourchon itself.

A worst case scenario with shutdown platforms and a destroyed infrasture at Fourchon can put America at $5.00 a gallon for Regular Unleaded.  

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Additional Link

economic collapse anyone?

I think we are headed (sooner or later) for some strange/dangerouse times in this nation

Aren't structures like that supposed to be designed to withstand
wind speeds of at least 150-200 mph?

Quoted: Aren't structures like that supposed to be designed to withstand wind speeds of at least 150-200 mph?

The Thunderhorse Platform.  The largest Oil Platform in the Gulf

It's not the winds that threaten the platforms.  It's the waves.  Several sources of what's happened in the past.
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Yahoo News - Hurricane Ivan

"Our results suggest that waves in excess of 90 feet are not rogue waves but actually are fairly common during hurricanes," Teague said in a telephone interview.

A wave that big would snap a ship in two or dwarf a 10-floor building, Teague said. And the sensors may have missed the largest waves, which the authors estimate had crest-to-trough wave heights exceeding 40 meters or 130 feet, the researchers said.

Such giant waves disintegrated before they ever touched land, they said.

Luckily, said colleague Doug Mitchell, ships rarely ever encounter such waves.

"They know better than to be out there in those conditions," he said in a telephone interview.

But oil platforms and other equipment cannot get out of the way.

"So when there were reports of an 80-foot (24-meter) wave striking an oil platform, they called it a rogue wave. We think it wasn't a rogue wave," Teague said.

Ivan sank seven oil platforms and set five adrift, Teague said, and his team's findings might help explain it.
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MSNBC - Hurricane Dennis

Thunder Horse, the largest platform in the Gulf of Mexico, is the center of the Thunder Horse field, located about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans in about 6,000 feet of water. Until the accident, BP expected it to begin producing oil — as much as 240,000 barrels per day — in late 2005. Exxon Mobil Corp. is a partner in the project.
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All we need is one powerful storm to rip through the center of the entire LOOP and it will send our country reeling.  1.5 Million barrels a day are produced out of the Gulf.  If we lost that, we'd have to go to alternative sources to make up for the 1.5 Million Barrels.  Meaning, gas prices would go up significantly.  I don't think I have to mention what would happen in this country if gas hit $5.00 a gallon.

Quoted: Aren't structures like that supposed to be designed to withstand wind speeds of at least 150-200 mph?

It's not so much the structure itself,  but the pipeline and support systems that are the most vunerable to major storms.

$3.50 a gallon you say?.....  try $5.00

Pictures

Video



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Did anyone watch that Discovery (I think) Channel movie called "Oil Storm"?  Would be a bitch if it actually happened...

Quoted: Did anyone watch that Discovery (I think) Channel movie called "Oil Storm"?  Would be a bitch if it actually happened...

Yes, that's why this is starting to look scary.  

Oil Storm
FX Networks

I work on a platform right south of the LOOP. The platforms are designed for 125-150 mph winds but a previous poster was correct. It is the wave damage that is so bad. The LOOP will probably be back in business pretty fast but their onshore facility up the bayou which is on the receiving end of the pipeline might withstand some flooding. They have some massive pumps to transfer the oil from offshore to the refineries up the river.
Plus the MMS now has a new rule that any facility that is with 20-25 miles of the path of the eye must go thru an extensive inspection and then request permission from the MMS (Fed. Govt.) to return the wells to service. So even tho you return to your platform after a storm has passed, you can't immediately startup.

goo dthread youd prolly get more replys/thoughts in the Sf with it,, just a thought.
this issue has passed thru my  mind once or twice also... not much we can do but sit back and wait..

Quoted: goo dthread youd prolly get more replys/thoughts in the Sf with it,, just a thought. this issue has passed thru my  mind once or twice also... not much we can do but sit back and wait..

Any way we can get it moved to the Team Forums (or do you mean Survival Forums) or should I just redo one over there?

Quoted: Quoted: goo dthread youd prolly get more replys/thoughts in the Sf with it,, just a thought. this issue has passed thru my  mind once or twice also... not much we can do but sit back and wait.. Any way we can get it moved to the Team Forums (or do you mean Survival Forums) or should I just redo one over there?

nah just link it over there in another thread.( i meant  the SF survival) just figured ya'd get a few wild and crazy answers and ideas to think about from some of the guys..

Thanks for the clarification, guys.
Stay safe.

Quoted: worrying about things we can't control is waste of time. I'd rather spend my time preparing than crossing my fingers.

We can survive for a good 2-months on the food storage we have in our home w/ absolutely no additional food or water coming in.  Not to mention the support we'd get from other local LDS Members.  But we ourselves are prepared for at least a "2-Month Shortage" of food which a huge Oil Crisis can and will cause.

Quoted: worrying about things we can't control is waste of time. I'd rather spend my time preparing than crossing my fingers. J

Big +1


Bigfeet

Just how prepared are you for something like this?  If you haven't been prepared, then it's a bit late.  See Katrina's latest strength and path?  How's your food storage?  Gas?  Financial reserve?  Get ready for some potential high gas prices everyone.  Katrina is a very strong Hurricane heading right into the largest Oil Production region in the Gulf of Mexico.

Quoted: Just how prepared are you for something like this?  If you haven't been prepared, then it's a bit late.  See Katrina's latest strength and path?  How's your food storage?  Gas?  Financial reserve?  Get ready for some potential high gas prices everyone.  Katrina is a very strong Hurricane heading right into the largest Oil Production region in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil has jumped to $70 a barrel, and the worst is not even here yet...

cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2005082819160002930866&dt=20050828191600&w=RTR&coview=


Bigfeet

and on a lighter note some AGAIN accosted me today. I didn't let it get as far as the "how about you give me your money point"  i basically told him to get fuck away from or he'd taste my helmet.


GOD DAMN IT STATE OF FLORIDA WHERE THE FUCK IS MY PERMIT???