Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: russwinter who wrote (29262)	3/23/2005 6:10:16 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

The primary reason why refineries burst into flame or explosion is excessive run-time between overhauls. Refinery engineers are most likely to stretch out the time between shut-down maintenance when gasoline prices and refinery margins are high - like they are now. Shut-down and re-build, which takes about 45 day, happens about every 18 months. If you stretch this out to 24 months, you effectively eliminate 15 days of lost production. The unit most likely to burst into flame in a Chevron refinery is the isomaxing unit, a proprietary catalytic cracking process. This giant processing tower combines oil and natural gas with catalysts at temperatures ranging from 600 to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Over time, processes like these corrode the containment vessel which eventually lead to failure. The Isomaxer normally fails with fire erupting at defective welds. Rarely, larger failures occur - which is why the operators are located in underground bunkers. When refineries stretch out maintenance leading to containment failure, regulatory agencies levy fines for pollution emission and worse consequences if anyone is hurt. google.com .

To: russwinter who wrote (29262)	3/23/2005 7:13:25 PM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Respond to of 110194

i wonder if that's why the US refiners were up today. everything else in energy was down hard. 3% sounds pretty bad. you know what they say--1% too much is a "glut" and 1% too little is a crisis.

To: russwinter who wrote (29262)	3/23/2005 8:35:35 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Exactly the same type of process unit which periodically goes up in flames in Chevron's refineries - the Isomax. BP says part of damaged Texas refinery still running Wed Mar 23, 2005 04:54 PM ET yahoo.reuters.com NEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters) - BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday that damage to its 470,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Texas City, Texas, refinery was isolated following an explosion, and other parts of the plant remained in operation. The explosion struck in an isomerization unit, near a fluid catalytic cracker and coker unit that were undergoing maintenance work. "BP can confirm the affected unit is an isomerization unit -- this is a unit that produces components that are used in gasoline to raise octane -- we have several units on this site that produce various octane enhancing components," said a statement issued by BP. .