Hurricane Rita

grinu · Post by **grinu** » 23 Sep 2005, 14:05

This is going to have massive consequences worldwide. It's like a peak oil trailer. Can't believe there's still over a month of the hurricane season to come.

martinezhockley · Post by **martinezhockley** » 23 Sep 2005, 16:10

I've just watched reports on the lunchtime news and I am stunned at the whole thing. Thousands of people are now trapped inside their cars having run out of gas, trying to flee this hurricane. I can't imagine what will happen if those people are unable to move out of the way before this thing hits, can you? It is just Dantesque! Here's the country which has done more than most to influence the climate change largely through use of vehicles in which they are all trying to flee, from a zone full of petrol refineries, 3 of which are likely to be hit and seriously damaged over the weekend. Is this a message, or what? It made me think how things could look if Bush suddenly released a statement telling the nation they were about to run out of gas tomorrow.

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 23 Sep 2005, 16:25

Water is flooding over the top of a repaired levee on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans into the Lower 9th Ward.

The worst of the storm surge and rain is yet to arrive.

source: WDSU.com local tv reporter on the spot, phoning in a report.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Sep 2005, 17:24

Looking at a map of oil rigs, it would be hard to draw a line through more rigs than that being made by Rita.

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 23 Sep 2005, 17:46

The Levee in Lower 9th Ward is now breached. Nothing can be done for many hours because of the passage of Rita. In the words of the tv reporter on the spot. :"This is a mess. We have a real problem"

the worst of the rainand storm surge is not expected for several hours

live pictues grabbed 5.30pm UK time

Ballard · Post by **Ballard** » 23 Sep 2005, 20:12

Good Live feed from Houston...

http://www.wwltv.com/perl/common/video/yahooPlayer.pl

Ballard · Post by **Ballard** » 23 Sep 2005, 22:59

Interactive map of ritas path and oil operations.

http://gom.rigzone.com/rita.asp?Command=MAP

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 24 Sep 2005, 00:01

in case you missed it...
.
Newsnight covers the effects of RIta and Katrina. Peak Oil is brought up by George Monbiot in a discussion with some American pol in Washington at the end of the piece.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/n ... 75968.stm#

Available on stream for 24hrs from end of tonights (Friday) episode...

Post by **clv101** » 24 Sep 2005, 00:47

Thanks Skeptik, excellent programme. Covered the light sweet / heavy sour problem, lack of the right type of refineries and even had Chris Skrebowski on and an advisor to the US energy security agreeing with George Monbiot regarding needing to reduce demand saying "must deal with demand and can't supply our way out of this". Monbiot mentioned peak oil (and explained it in a sentence), which is interesting since he belittled the peak oil issue when I discussed it with him a couple of months ago.

EmptyBee · Post by **EmptyBee** » 24 Sep 2005, 08:51

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mp ... ss/3367639

Houston Chronicle wrote: Refineries in the cross hairs

Hurricane Rita's northerly turn may spare Houston-area refineries and chemical plants, but facilities in Port Arthur, Beaumont and Lake Charles, La., could be in for trouble.

The four refineries in Port Arthur and Beaumont account for 7 percent of the countries' refining capacity ? making it one of the biggest concentrations in the country. But it's still short of the Houston area's 13 percent total.

In Lake Charles, about 30 miles inland, sits a 324,000-barrel-per-day Citgo refinery and one of the largest import terminals for liquefied natural gas in the country.

If the storm remains powerful and makes a direct hit on the Sabine Pass south of Port Arthur, storm surges of 15 to 20 feet were predicted Friday afternoon for that area and could threaten Port Arthur's 14-foot levee.

grinu · Post by **grinu** » 24 Sep 2005, 11:24

http://www.cbcunlocked.com/artman/publi ... _433.shtml

Rita fears diminish, markets re-balance ahead of hurricane's landfall.

Oil futures fell on hurricane Rita's downgrade on Friday. Texas refineries are built to withstand a category 3 hurricane but supply disruptions are still likely since most Texas refineries are shut down and many Louisiana refineries remain off line due to hurricane Katrina. The Gulf refineries account for about 30 per cent of American capacity.

fishertrop · Post by **fishertrop** » 24 Sep 2005, 12:44

Rita shuts 2.2M bpd gasoline output-EIA
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/23/news/ec ... /index.htm

There will be disruptions," Bodman told reporters in a telephone briefing. "How long they will last, I simply don't know."

Bodman said gasoline imports would be needed over the next one to three weeks to help replace lost supply.

Also, this is a nice summary - then:

and now:

fishertrop · Post by **fishertrop** » 24 Sep 2005, 16:55

This interactive map from Rigzone is also excellent:

http://gom.rigzone.com/rita.asp?Command=MAP

EmptyBee · Post by **EmptyBee** » 25 Sep 2005, 09:44

25 Sep 2005 03:15 GMT

Rita: 5mn bl of US refining capacity sidelined

Austin, 24 September (Argus) ? Hurricane Rita lashed the Texas and Louisiana coast, coming ashore early today near Beaumont, Texas with 120 mile per hour winds, leaving nearly 5mn b/d of refining capacity out of action.

The loss of refinery capacity extends even beyond the US Gulf, as some refiners reported refineries as far north as Ohio running at reduced rates because of pipeline closures.

US government officials estimated that 2.2mn b/d of gasoline-making capacity is off line, while 600,000 b/d of jet fuel capacity has been curtailed.

Even in areas where wind and water damage were limited, staff stranded in evacuation sites will certainly delay the return to service of several plants.

Refiners were moving assessment teams into refineries today, and in some cases repairs have already begun. But some refiners in the Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas areas most heavily hit by the storm are talking about possible outages of more than a month. These lost refining assets will be added to the nearly 900,000 b/d of Louisiana and Mississippi refining capacity still sidelined from damage done by Hurricane Katrina at the end of August.

Gasoline consumption in the region surged thanks to millions attempting to flee the storm. One refiner recorded gasoline sales 87pc higher than a week ago, and reported spot shortages of supply at retail stations as far west as San Antonio, Texas.

http://www.argusmediagroup.com/katrina.html

As usual anything less than an unmitigated catastrophe is reported by mainstream news as 'dodging a bullet'. Does this make a winter fuel crisis inevitable now?

Post by **mikepepler** » 25 Sep 2005, 13:17

EmptyBee wrote: As usual anything less than an unmitigated catastrophe is reported by mainstream news as 'dodging a bullet'. Does this make a winter fuel crisis inevitable now?

Wasn't it already? It makes it more certain though.

I wonder how long until we get real reports of oil infrastructure damage from the area? Any thoughts Tess?

Mike

PowerSwitch

Hurricane Rita

Levee in NO is "overtopping"

New Orleans breached again

Rita Katrina and Peak oil on Newsnight