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Reuters
The Motiva Enterprises oil refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters. On June 9, during repairs to a minor leak at the refinery, the inadvertent introduction of a small volume of caustics ultimately caused what could be billions of dollars of damage to the plant.
Reuters has the inside story on what caused a new state-of-the-art oil refinery – the biggest U.S. refinery built in the U.S. in a decade -- in Port Arthur, Texas, to shut down 11 days ago. The villain, according to the working theory developed by plant managers: "accelerated chemical corrosion."
The impact of the shutdown could be felt by the partners in the refinery – Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco division Motiva – as well as U.S. drivers, as every day the plant remains closed equates to 144 million miles worth of gasoline that isn't being supplied to the U.S. market during the height of the driving season:
Excerpts from the report by Reuters reporter Erwin Seba:
In the end, all it took was a small chemical spill -- perhaps less than a barrelful -- to bring down the newest, mightiest oil refinery in the United States.
Three weeks ago, while workers repaired a minor leak at the Port Arthur, Texas, plant owned by Motiva Enterprises, a few gallons a day of so-called "caustic" was inadvertently seeping into the newly built crude distillation unit (CDU), the 30-story-high network of interconnected cylinders and latticed pipelines at the heart of the refining process.
While harmless when mixed with crude, the undiluted caustic vaporized into an invisible but devastating agent of corrosion as the chamber heated up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit (370 Celsius); the chemical gas raced through key units, fouled huge heaters and corroded thousands of feet of stainless steel pipe.
Now, just weeks after they commissioned the biggest U.S. refinery project in a decade, two of the world's biggest oil titans -- Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco, which own Motiva -- are rushing to repair the potentially billion-dollar glitch that has added an embarrassing and costly coda to a landmark $10 billion expansion.
After a five-year effort to double the plant's capacity, making it the largest in the country, they must now reassemble many of the same people and parts for a blitzkrieg fix that may exceed the original $300 million cost of the unit: corrosion experts are flying in from across the world; hundreds of workers are being hired; bespoke 30-inch stainless steel pipelines and 30-story cranes may need to be obtained quickly, according to sources involved in the repairs.
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So the price of gas should spike soon as a result of this incompetence, which will net the parent companies more than enough billions to rake in a healthy profit even after paying for the fix, and set the industry as a whole up for yet another record-profit year.
Gotta wonder when and where this one was planned out. Probably on the 14th fairway at a Dubai country club a couple of months ago. "Hey, Achmed, we had a fire at our refinery the last time. It's y'alls turn to do your part." The Sheiks had the solution by the time they three-putted in.
I worked in the refinery business "a few gallons of caustic,NAOH" would not cause that degree of damage,and off gassing is spin control.
This story has obliviously been massaged by the company and media.
One of my local community neighbors informed me that he has a friend who works in the oil industry, and his friend said that oil shortages designed to drive up oil prices are routinely created by the oil industry by deliberately holding back oil in large storage tanks. Maybe this was deliberate manipulation of markets, too. Unfortunately I don't think we can trust government to investigate this possibility. - RC
For all the investors who earn profits on percentages and those who hold sway in daily operations, this sounds more like another effort to manipulate a commodity resource. They will never experience pain at the pump whatever the cost. The market price will be whatever the market will bear. Even if it means the collapse of entire economies then only back off the chokehold before the golden goose dies.
Sounds like another bs story to made.Another way to jack up prices.
Sorry but caustic doesn't corrode stainless.
Get ready to get ripped off again by the bloodsucking bastards.
Don't even have the new plant running, and already screwed it up. I can't wait too see what they do too the ecosystem next.
I wonder what this will do to your gas system in your car? This kind of damage happens over a long period of time, some of those product had to make it out to market. How long before we find high levels of corrosion in our gas and oil systems.
Why should gasoline prices spike in the U.S.? This refinery was on stream for just a few weeks. I find it hard to believe that it could have impacted the market to a great extent in so short a period of time. If it did, I would think that with the additional capacity, we should have seen a price decrease. I didn't see it, did you?
I have to agree with the general consensus though, that just the words "refinery shut-down", no matter what the circumstances, will spike prices at the pump
the united states relies entirely too much on diplomas and degrees......
just as the automotive market relies on journeymen's cards..
so much raw talent goes wasted because mommy and daddy cared more for themselves....
i believe a degree in ANY field should require at least 4 years hands on experience or OJT (on the job experience)
those 4 years should be intertwined seamlessly with the academic...its one thing to have the smarts...but another to properly use them....
One excuse after another to continue raping the American consumer.