FIRE AT TESORO REFINERY IN L.A.

CNBC | 9/25/2009 | staff

[kellynla]

FIRE AT TESORO REFINERY IN L.A. NO INJURIES, EVACUATIONS UNDERWAY.

[kellynla]

Developing. Nothing more at this time.

[Constitution Day]

I bet they’re raising gas prices already!

[Paladin2]

Islamic employees?

[rstrahan]

Had aerials of the fire. Having lived in Pasadena, TX, I can state with full confidence, that that was NOT much of a fire. No earth-shattering kaboom, rolling fireballs, etc. Shouldn’t be down more than a couple of days.

[Paladin2]

I was wondering if it was localized to the input buffer, the output buffer or the processing sections of the plant.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Yep, refinery fires tend to cause a spike in gas prices on the spot market.

I never quite understood that, because the gas we buy today has been in the pipeline for several weeks. So the gas we buy for the next couple of weeks will not have been affected by this refinery fire.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Replacement cost is the key driver of tomorrow’s gasoline.

[TexasCajun]

Go fill up your car/truck now! :)

[norraad]

These are people that keep several sets of books (they make the mafia look like girl scouts), like carneys, any excuse that the guible public will buy, sells.

Also, like carneys, they sorta look down on the public, or rather perhaps, an outsider v. insider attitude.

But, you know, God bless'um, and thanks for all the gasolean!

Some say, well, if they had more money, maybe they'd build safer refineries.

Maybe, but a cowboy, wild west subrosa mindset permeates the meat of the mentality there top to bottom, so change of precious traditions is snails pace(complete with all the incumbent slime).

[kellynla]

Not to worry, they’ll have this contained by lunch...

[Never on my watch]

In the year or two after 9/11 there were a number of refinery “events.” Some fires, and suspicious activity like people taking pictures. They were always dismissed within minutes as “no evidence of links to terrorism” by federal authorities.

I suspect that statement has already been released.

[downwdims]

This is why I don’t work at the Bomb aka the Refinery

[TexasCajun]

Where is this plant, Lake Charles?

[norraad]

Yes, it's really just another resource management issue to them.

What's burning, how much does it cost (us) v. how much does it cost (us) to put it out.

"Put it out or let it burn, hmmmmm, hand me my calculator, son."

[Paladin2]

Given the start of the Denver-NYC cell rollup, the b0z0 in Springfield, IL and the illegal in Dallas and the new restriction on carry-ins at a local football stadium imposed in the last few days, something is afoot.

[penelopesire]

Here is a link:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jYkAyfTB-gAvN27Vp6Uy-96rPlcgD9AUD9HO1

[penelopesire]

[mysterio]

that was NOT much of a fire.

That's ok. We should still add 30 cents to the price of gas immediately.

[RoseofTexas]

HMMMMM...Dallas, NY and now CA? On the same week? This smells like Mooslims to me!!

[traumer]

I read “EXECUTIONS UNDERWAY”... :o)

[wny]

after tax and cap passes, the emmissions from fires will be taxed. Your house burns? TAX. Campfire? TAX. etc

[Never on my watch]

“...something is afoot.”

Big time. I just hope the worst of them was intercepted. I think other bad actors are now a little scared and have postponed other planned events. They are likely retreating to regroup and try again.

I would hate to be an undercover agent in these cells now. They are going to be a great risk.

I think that a lot of these stings are happening because the NY/Denver operation was compromised and they had to act faster than the FBI had hoped.

[Sender]

[SaveTheChief]

Refinery fires happen more often than we might think. I'll never forget what I was told the first time I went to a refinery - "There isn't anything here that won't kill you."

Glad no one was hurt.

[sportutegrl]

When my father was still alive, he took me to the Exxon Refinery in Baton Rouge, LA, (not L.A.). A sign at the gate said: No smoking, No cameras, No visitors. Needless to say, Dad was smoking at the time, and there was a camera on the dash of his company truck. (I would be the visitor.)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The fire is at the coker unit. They will take part of the plant down to make repairs...

[El Laton Caliente]

The Coker unit bad actors are the feed pumps and the feed furnace. I’ve seen the pumps & related piping back on line in as little as two/three days but the furnace can take several weeks if it’s bad.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Is this a typical delayed coker unit ? It can't be very big since the plant is rated at 100,000 bbls/day.
If they have a choice of crudes, perhaps they can go around the coker and desulferizer. I did note CARBOB cash is up $.20

[El Laton Caliente]

I haven't worked that plant, but I asked my boss and he said it was a typical two drum coker. Normally feed contracts are in place months or years in advance. I guess they could go to light sweet crude, but by the time they took delivery the coker might be repaired.

More likely they will pipe the coker feed (think asphalt) to another refinery in the area at a discounted price.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Or they could call a guy like me for a couple hundred rail cars...

[norraad]

I've often wondered how rail competes with barge in this area?

For that matter, I even seen trucks come in when rail was available, what's up with that?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

When a coker goes down, asphalt builds and the farther away you can take it, the better the refinery likes it. They don't want to compete against their own asphalt so they kick into ‘winterfill’ pricing mode. Winterfill (asphalt priced to get it out of the refinery outside the typical paving season) is a key part of the black oil word.

[El Laton Caliente]

That has been done also...