<DrumBeat: September 15, 2008 The Oil Drum Implications of a Ten Day Refinery Outage>

51 comments on Damage Caused by Hurricane Ike - Open Thread

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JoulesBurn on September 15, 2008 - 7:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Information on closed pipelines from here:

One of the biggest refined products pipelines is the 5519-mile Colonial with a capacity of 2.4 mbpd. It is currently shutdown because of lack of product. The colonial stretches from Texas to New York and feeds all the states along the way. If the Colonial is not restarted soon the entire eastern seaboard will begin experiencing fuel shortages. The 700,000 bpd Explorer pipeline from Texas to Indiana is completely shutdown from lack of product. The 600,000 bpd Plantation pipeline from Louisiana to Virginia is operating at greatly reduced rates. All of these pipelines could be offline for another two weeks suggesting a serious shortage of fuel will develop on the east coast.

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Gail the Actuary on September 15, 2008 - 7:27pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

According to DOE's 3:00Pm Report, Colonial Pipeline (Texas to New York) is now operating at reduced rates. This may be greatly reduced rates--the report doesn't give enough information to tell. The other information still seems to be correct.

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JoulesBurn on September 15, 2008 - 7:48pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

It would be of interest to know what the entry points are for the Colonial and other pipelines. Which refineries can supply it?

For a good treatise on the US pipeline network and how it functions, read this document:

How Pipelines Make the Oil Market Work –
Their Networks, Operation and Regulation

It dates to 2001, but it doesn't give many specifics anyway.

JB

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AlanfromBigEasy on September 16, 2008 - 8:16am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The Gustav related refinery shutdowns are rapidly coming back on-line. The Mississippi River is open for tankers stalled outside Houston, so crude should not be a problem (if it is SPR releases). Electrical power outages are patched if not completely repaired.

IMHO, the Plantation pipeline should be at full capacity in a couple of days, with additional product being barged up-river (slow, up to 2 weeks to Pittsburgh) and some product for the Colonial pipeline.

But the USA cannot operate off just the East Louisiana refineries without the Lake Charles area and Texas Gulf refineries.

Alan

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51 comments on Damage Caused by Hurricane Ike - Open Thread

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