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16 comments on And oil rigs become more attractive . . . .

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spooky on November 1, 2005 - 1:10pm Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
The real solution, the one used in the oil field offshore, is the correct one for this problem.

Utilize the refinery feedstock to run a sufficiently large generator. Every one of these plants utilize natural gas - many already generate their own power. As every single one of these plants has rail access, even coal could be used to power a local, refinery specific generator setup.

But when a plant is inundated with 10-20 feet of water, then there are other issues. Doesn't matter then if it is local power or not - repairs must be completed first.

Offshore platforms generate their own electricity from the natural gas available at the site - they do not rely on shore-based power. This includes those that send in neatly dewatered and partially refined streams of product. Thus this is already something that is common in the industry.

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Joel on November 1, 2005 - 6:00pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
"Offshore platforms generate their own electricity from the natural gas available at the site - they do not rely on shore-based power."

They do this because they have no choice.  It's frickin' expensive.

If power outages at a refinery are frequent then there may come a break-even point where it becomes cost-effective to have onsite power generation.  But at that level a smart manager will begin to question whether the refinery should just be relocated.

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Magnus Redin on November 1, 2005 - 6:47pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
You already have lots of peak power gas turbine powerplants. It is clearly a lot less expensive to move one of those powerplants to a refinery then to move a refinery since a refinery is an order of magnitude more complex and also larger.

You do not have to run the local powerplant 24/7, start it up when you expect the power feed to fail or after it has failed to start up the refinery withouth waiting for external power.

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