News dump...there is probably more, if I had time to read a few more threads, or the comments.
Ike, hard on the heels of Gus....
North Carolina: Schools, agencies feeling fuel pinch
Hurricane Ike has interrupted the shipment of diesel fuel to Iredell-Statesville Schools, jeopardizing the district's ability to transport students.
Gas shortage may be 2 weeks
AUGUSTA, GA - One Augusta gasoline distributor predicts it will take two weeks before supplies return to normal.
Florida: Diesel Shortage Affects Local Schools
A diesel fuel shortage due to Hurricane Ike is causing local school districts to cut back on field trips and some athletic events.
Alabama: Gas woes force city to curb bus routes
High gas prices might persuade more Huntsville residents to ride the bus, but a fuel shortage caused by Hurricane Ike is forcing the city to temporarily cut back bus service.
City of Atlanta Has 15 Days Of Fuel Left For City Vehicles
ATLANTA -- The gasoline pinch isn’t just affecting you -- the city of Atlanta said it only has enough gas to get through the next 15 days and it’s asking everyone using a city vehicle to conserve.
“I guess we’re all going to have to start riding horse and buggies,” said Atlanta resident Roger Evans.
theoildrum.com
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Stuff I posted ylesterday...
9/15
According to today's DOE report, 3.6 million barrels of refinery capacity is shut in, and 2.5 million barrels is operating with reduced runs. In my refinery article, I used an estimate of one-third of production from reduced runs being off line. With this approach, 4.4 million barrels of refinery production is off-line, which is about 22% of oil products use. The corresponding calculation from yesterday's report would indicate that 4.5 million barrels were offline then, so we are making slight progress. It would be difficult to get along without 22% of oil products for long, however.
Also, from that report, there are 3.9 million electricity customers without electrical power, including 2.4 million from Texas.
The report indicates that 1.3 million barrels of crude oil production is off-line. The US produced a total of about 5.1 million barrels of crude oil a day, including all of the United States. The amount currently off-line amounts to about 25% of US production.
theoildrum.com
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BP says Mad Dog derrick toppled by Hurricane Ike
Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:19am EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - BP said the drilling derrick on its Mad Dog oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico was toppled and resting on the sea floor after Hurricane Ike.
"Mad Dog's drilling derrick, which sits atop the platform, was toppled and is on the sea bed," the company said in a press release issued late Monday.
The company added that overflights and on site inspections found minimal signs of damage to most of its other platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP said there were no signs of flooding at its oil refinery in Texas City and that inspections of critical systems at the plant were underway.
reuters.com;
247wallst.com
Dated September 15, 2008
Exxon Mobil began assessing damage to its production facilities yesterday, and has not yet reported any results. The Baytown refinery does have electrical power, but the Beaumont refinery does not. The company is installing portable generators in the Houston area to maintain distribution to emergency crews. Retail operations will be brought back online as soon as conditions are safe and electricity is available.
Chevron reports that all its Gulf production platforms are shut-in, and its Galena Park terminal near Houston is also shutdown. The Pascagoula refinery is operating at full capacity, but the Port Arthur lubricant plant is shut down. Like Exxon, Chevron is installing portable generators at key locations around Houston to try to maintain fuel availability.
The ConocoPhillips refineries in Sweeny, Texas, has no electricity. The Belle Chasse, Louisiana, refinery is preparing to restart following a shut down from Hurricane Gustav, and the Lake Charles refinery is operating at reduced rates as it comes back online from Gustav. The Mt. Belvieu plant is shut down. All Conoco's onshore and offshore production is shut down.
Pipeline operators are experiencing few problems with onshore pipelines, but so far there are few reports on damage to underwater pipeline systems. Kinder Morgan experienced no shutdowns on any of its pipelines, but is experiencing reduced volumes due to reduced shipments from area refineries. Kinder Morgan's liquids terminal on the Houston Ship Channel experienced no major damage and expects to resume shipments today.
Enterprise Products resumed operations Sunday at the Independence Hub and Trail pipeline in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and expects to return personnel to other offshore platforms today. Lack of electricity remains an issue for Enterprise and for Teppco, which owns refined products terminals near Exxon's Baytown and Beaumont refineries. Neither Enterprise nor Teppco reports significant damage to facilities.
Diamond Offshore reports that its jack-up rig, Ocean Tower, lost its entire drilling package, including the derrick. Another unit, Ocean Drake, was in a Galveston shipyard and no damage assessment has been done yet. Diamond's other ten rigs are scheduled to be inspected for damage beginning today.
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Cincinnati
Stores, Gas Stations Running out of Supplies
Last Update: 9:17 am
The Big Blackout: Gas Stations Running Out of Fuel
A sign says BP in Beechmont is out of fuel (WKRC-TV) The big blackout is causing problems for the gas stations that have power. Several local stations are beginning to run out.
The BP at the intersection of Beechmont and Five Mile Road in Anderson Township is completely out. Signs warn customers about the shortage. The station has been out of gas since at least 10 o'clock last night.
There is no word yet on when it will receive a new shipment of fuel. If you can find a gas station that's open -- be prepared to wait in a long line to fill your tank. Prices are up in the wake of the storm.
We found two Shell tractor trailers filling tanks at a station at Winton and Galbraith Roads in Springfield Township. Prices have been ranging from about $4 a gallon to $4.20 cents a gallon, so it pays to shop around.
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Spreading effects
Ike's ripple effect on energy elsewhere also grew more apparent Sunday. Kevin Kolevar, the U.S. Energy Department's assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability, said gasoline inventories in the Houston region were "pretty healthy," and distributors said fuel was being diverted from other areas of the country to ensure Houston's motors keep running.
But other parts of the country that rely on crude processed by Gulf Coast refineries and transported by pipelines originating in the region are feeling Ike's ripple effects with higher gasoline prices and shortages.
For example, stations south of Interstate 10 near Panama City in the Florida Panhandle were running low. A Chevron station at an intersection of Florida 331 and Florida 20 had plastic bags on every pump, signifying tanks were empty.
The Colonial Pipeline, which transports gasoline from the Gulf Coast to the southeast United States, was shut down for Ike and reopened with reduced flow Sunday, the Energy Department said.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with the Oil Price Information Service, called the Colonial the "aorta" of the nation's gasoline distribution system.
That line typically delivers 100 million gallons of refined product per day to customers in the South and East. The pipeline operated at a reduced rate for over a week after Hurricane Gustav and had just returned to full service Wednesday, only to have its gasoline pipeline go down again Friday because of Ike.
chron.com
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Gas Pipeline Through Greensboro Operating at 75%, Company Says
Last Edited: Monday, 15 Sep 2008, 4:19 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 15 Sep 2008, 3:24 PM EDT
The Plantation Pipeline -- one of two pipelines that supply fuel to gas stations in North Carolina -- is operating at 75 percent of its normal flow, according to the company.
Larry Pierce, a spokesman with Plantation, said the pipeline is ready to operate at full capacity, but refineries in the Gulf of Mexico are not completely operational yet. Pierce said the Plantation Pipeline was operating at 60 percent Sunday.
A message left with Colonial Pipeline, the other supplier of gas to the region, was not immediately returned.
The Colonial Pipeline runs from Houston through the Southeast U.S., into Greensboro and up the East Coast. The Plantation Pipeline runs from Louisiana through Greensboro and north into Virginia.
myfoxwghp.com.
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Greensboro Implements Fuel Conservation Measures
Last Edited: Monday, 15 Sep 2008, 4:57 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 15 Sep 2008, 4:57 PM EDT
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) -- Anticipating a disruption in the supply of gas, city employees filled up cars and emergency vehicles Friday. According to city officials, conservation efforts will not end until the oil pipelines and refineries are operating normally again.
In a memo, officials told city employees to restrict their use of gasoline-powered cars, limit idling and unnecessary travel and avoid topping off their tanks.
The city's fire department canceled training activities and practice sessions for the week.
"To the extent possible, you know, we're just trying to restrict the travel until the flow of fuel gets back to normal," said assistant fire chief David Douglas.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Plantation Pipeline -- one of two pipelines that supply gas to the area -- said the company's line was operating at 75 percent of its normal flow.
The decreased fuel supply was still evident across the Piedmont Monday, with many stations removing prices from their giant signs and placing plastic bags over each gas handle.
myfoxwghp.com.
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Sheetz chain says its fuel shortages could last days
The Associated Press
5:00 PM EDT, September 15, 2008
FREDERICK - The Sheetz convenience store chain says it could be several days before some of its outlets are restocked with gasoline after a supply disruption caused by Hurricane Ike.
The Altoona, Pa.-based company says 25 to 30 of its stores in parts of Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia are out of gas due to the temproray shutdown last week of the Colonial Pipeline from the Gulf Coast.
The American Automobile Association says the pipeline has restarted at a reduced rate.
The association says that until the supply issues are resolved, drivers can expect spot outages and relatively high prices at the pump.
baltimoresun.com.
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Most Tallahassee Stations Out of Gas
Posted: 6:42 PM Sep 15, 2008
Last Updated: 6:42 PM Sep 15, 2008
As more people rush to fill up, more gas stations run empty.
Petroleum officials say 80, maybe even 90 percent of the stations in our area are completely out of gas.
Drivers in Tallahassee
desperate for gasoline crowd into any gas station they can find that actually has gas.
One motorist, Stephanie Utroska, said, "I was kind of freaking out because I just went on E. I was hoping that this whole thing was like a big rumor, but I guess it's not."
It's no rumor. It really is hard to fuel up in our area.
President of Florida Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store, Association, Inc. Jim Smith says more than 80 percent of local gas stations are out of gas.
This, Smith says, despite the fact that refineries in Texas did not sustain a great deal of damage from Hurricane Ike.
Therefore, the shortage is caused by the three to four times the number of people rushing to get gas all at once.
Smith said, "We also had a slow down of product from the pipeline in Bainbridge, Georgia where we get a bunch of our product. So that added to the travel time to either Panama City or Jacksonville, or in some cases Tampa to bring product back in."
The panic began Friday.
Even as some deliveries came in throughout the past few days, drivers were there in a hurry to suck it right out.
One BP Station on Tennessee Street ran out by Saturday.
Store owner Scott Heindle said,
"They were pretty crazy. People were...there were just long lines getting gasoline. We ran out right away."
It's going to take a little more time before all of the plastic bags come off the gas pumps. Smith says things should get back to normal in ten days to two weeks.
Smith says it would help if residents don't panic. He says drivers should try to conserve if they can and only get gas when they need it.
wctv.tv |
