You give them too much credit. They're not even knives, they're sporks.
Posted on 02/08/2011 11:27:17 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
LIVE video at link
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7946342
MONT BELVIEU (KTRK) -- An explosion has rocked a refining facility in Mont Belvieu today, sending flames high into the air
The Mont Belvieu Police Department confirms an explosion about 11:45am at Enterprise Products on Sun Oil Road.
According to its website, "Enterprise owns a state of the art gasoline additive production facility that has been modified to produce isooctane, a motor gasoline octane enhancement additive used in reformulated motor gasoline blends to increase octane, and isobutylene."
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
From your link:
Market sources said the explosions and subsequent fire occurred in an iso-octane unit on the west side of the complex, near several storage facilities. Those also are near a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipeline.
The storage facilities, which Enterprise acquired in 2001, consist of 30 salt-dome caverns with a total capacity of 77m bbl, according to the company’s website.
I'm going to cease and desist for now until more is known.
*tongue clucking* My silly mistake.
Upon reflection...did I need an /sarcasm there?
Fear the Spork! LOL
LOL @ Fear the spork.
Well now.
Looks like we’re just going to have to padlock all these refineries just like we did with the oil rigs because they are unsafe and unhealthful for the planet.
That whole area is salt dome.
Years ago there was one that exploded. They bought out all the homes in the area.
That whole area is salt dome.
Years ago there was one that exploded. They bought out all the homes in the area.
Pictures from Channel 13. The second one is from Exxons office building called the White House.
There is a Mosque within range of the EXXON refinery.
Just past the white building with the green roof.
http://www.khou.com/news/cnn/Explosions-fire-at-Mont-Belvieu-plant—115579109.html
[excerpt] .....Enterprise spokesman Rick Raine said one contractor, for Turner Industries, still had not been accounted for by Tuesday night. The man was scheduled to work Tuesday, did not show up at a secure area where employees were told to report in case of an emergency.
The man’s family said his truck was still at the plant and that he was not answering his cell phone.
Several trucks melted when flames spread to several nearby vehicles and at least one building.....[end excerpt]
ping to update on missing person at refinery.
Oh, pax...I’m just now seeing this. I’m glad to hear your friend’s son is OK. Praying for the one who has not been accounted for...any news on that yet?
Not to mention that about every six months to a year or so, a refinery or something explodes in the Houston area. It’s been that way for decades and has nothing to do with terrorism - rather, it has to do with the overworked refineries and the nature of the job they’re doing.
[excerpt] Houston-based Enterprise is one of the country’s largest shippers and processors of natural gas, including 49,100 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines.
The facility in Chambers County — about 35 miles northeast of Houston — includes massive underground natural gas storage caverns as well as a natural gas fractionation plant, where natural gas liquids are separated into different components before being put into storage or injected into pipelines. It has a capacity of about 305,000 barrels of natural gas liquids per day.
Recently the facility has become an important hub to oil and gas producers in South Texas’ Eagle Ford shale formation, where large quantities of natural gas liquids are being extracted and then processed for usage by Gulf Coast petrochemical plants and other customers.
In addition to the 300,000 barrel-per-day fractionator, the Mont Belvieu site also has 34 underground caverns with capacity to store 100 million barrels of products -– or almost a year’s worth of produced natural gas liquids such as ethane, propane and butane.
Because the Mont Belvieu facility handles such huge volumes, even small accidents can affect prices of those fuels, said Adam Bedard, senior director of energy analysis at Bentek Energy in Evergreen, Colo.
“If the supply of natural gas liquids is affected, either because of the fire at the storage units or the fractionator goes down, you could see upward pressure on natural gas liquids prices,” he said.
That could be bad news for refineries and petrochemical plants that are the biggest users of the liquids.
In response to the accident, LyondellBasell Industries reduced output at its chemical plants in La Porte and Channelview, which receive ethane and propane from the Mont Belvieu complex. David Harpole, a company spokesman, said the plants are currently looking for alternate ways to source the fuels.
Exxon Mobil was taking safety precautions to ensure the fire did not harm its Baytown refining and chemical complex, said company spokesman Kevin Allexon. The complex remained operational late Tuesday afternoon and was meeting all customer commitments, he said.
The impact on other petrochemical producers in the area was not immediately clear.
Meanwhile, regulators were keeping a close eye on the situation to gauge how to proceed.
“We’re working with state and local officials in determining next steps,” said a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in Washington, D.C..
The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates pipelines and other oil and gas operations in the state, is not involved in the Enterprise incident, office spokeswoman Ramona Nye said. [end excerpt]
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/02/08/natural-gas-facility-in-mont-belvieu-explodes/
He may not be answering his phone 'cause he knows he going to get it from his wife/girlfriend.
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