Three explosions at the chemical plant in Texas City

[Th1onein]

This has hit only the local news here in Galveston County. The British Petroleum chemical plant in Texas City has had three explosions and a huge fire is burning right now. They have blocked off all of the roads into Texas City, and they have evacuated the residents.

[mzmolly]

1. Oh my that's awful.

:(

[54anickel]

2. Here's a link, it's hitting the news wires now

edit to add:
A newer report here
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/8315137.htm

TEXAS CITY, Texas - An explosion apparently caused by a fire in a furnace in a unit at the BP Refinery forced the evacuation of the plant Tuesday night.

There were no reports of injuries, said B.C. Clawson, Texas City emergency management coordinator.

Residents were told to stay in their homes, the city said on a local cable access channel.

Roads leading into the petrochemical complex were closed as a precaution.


http://www.news24houston.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=26383


Witnesses report seeing multiple explosions and flames in the vicinity of one of the nearby plants. The explosions happened around 7:15 p.m.

Authorities say it happened at the BP Amoco Chemical Plant in Texas City located at FM 519 East.

A shelter in place is currently in effect for Texas City and La Marque.

Fortunately, winds are blowing the smoke toward the gulf and away from the more plopulated areas nearby, however the shelter in place remains.

If you are in the area, you should go inside, shut your windows and turn off your air conditioning.

[stepnw1f]

4. Read the Second Last Paragraph...

"The fire is not expected to burn overnight and has been downgraded. Plant officials say the chemicals being burned were not toxic."

Yeah ok... is that supposed to make people feel safer?

[sam sarrha]

5. our prayers are for the casualties and their families....

[Ilsa]

3. Already downgraded threat..

The news24 link reports all employees accounted for; okay to go outside, etc. Hope all is okay.

[sam sarrha]

6. good.. now all we have to do is pray this doesn't drive up gas over $6 gal

whether it creates a shortage or not.

[stepnw1f]

7. This Will Definitely Be Used To Justify Prices on Gas and Oil

[peterh]

8. nope…zero impact….

The after market is up 33 cpb on crude and .0138 cpg on unl, but it has nothing to do with a fire at a “chemical” refinery….traders are a tad smarter than that….they don’t take long positions on that type of news….the following is what is driving the market currently…

0224 GMT Nymex crude futures rising in active Asian morning trade;
volatility anticipated ahead of key OPEC meeting. Overnight statements by
leading delegates point to output cut. Expected US crude stock build in weekly
data report due later Wed could bolster OPEC hawks' intention to cut output to
keep prices firm, traders say.

[0007]

9. Old Man bush was the cause of it!

Did the oil workers feel his pain and forgot what they were doing?

[peterh]

10. You lost me on that 0007….

Being pragmatic…I have to admit, I’m on the losing end of some subtleties :shrug:

[Eye and Monkey]

12. "Emotional Elder Bush Attacks Son's Critics" at oil group meeting

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=453807&mesg_id=453807

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - An emotional former President George H.W. Bush on Tuesday defended his son's Iraq (news - web sites) war and lashed out at White House critics.

It is "deeply offensive and contemptible" to hear "elites and intellectuals on the campaign trail" dismiss progress in Iraq since last year's overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), the elder Bush said in a speech to the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association annual convention.

[peterh]

14. Ahhh yes….thanks…

Not that one has anything to do with the other, but the subtlety of 0007’s inference is clearer now….btw, the NPRA is nothing more than a networking boondoggle…invaluable for the rookies, but after a few, it’s a “been there, done that” event….

[Eye and Monkey]

16. "invaluable for the rookies" - Poppy's crying for the benefit of rookies?

He's pathetic. As far as the “been there, done that” - perhaps Poppy will be consoling Junior with that exact expression come November.

[peterh]

18. Hey…every industry has its networking boondoggles…

And this is just one of many in the oil sector and maybe one of the bigger ones….and for the rookies, it is invaluable….from a networking standpoint. As for the keynote speaker…well that’s a personal choice whether to attend and listen to the BS. We had George H. last year and Barbara the year before at our convention in Vegas. I chose not to attend those speeches while I was there…they were political stump speeches that had little to do current issues facing the industry and from the sounds of it…nothing has changed.

George H. gets a hundred grand and mrs. nutcase gets 75 and for what…for the privilege of listening to their rant….count me out. I’m very close to being a party of one in this industry and my peers are very cognizant of it…..they take me in stride…as I do them…we even manage to have some fun with it.

End of rant…

Yes, lets hope H & W have a little more in common come Nov.

[0007]

22. Sorry, I wasn't to clear, was I?

I was referring to daddy bush and his speech, on the same day of the accident, whining and crying about everybody picking on junior. His talk was to an oil company and it's folks.

My bad.

[ze_dscherman]

17. Oil Futures rose 30ct

According to a German News Source

[jmcgowanjm]

20. "yep...lots of impact"-gasoline highest in 18 years

Backwardation – Fast Forward into the future
15/03/04 by Edward Teague
The shortages are real … the oil price is going up for literally any reason that suggests itself to suppliers.

http://www.williambowles.info/guests/backwardation.html

Latest reason:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2476496

[NYC]

13. Gasoline Prices Rise to 18 Year High After Fire at Texas BP Refinery.

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aRYlAW_vHXL0&refer=news_index

Gasoline in New York rose to its highest price in at least 18 years after an explosion at BP Plc's Texas City refinery, the third biggest in the U.S., added to concern about shortages of the fuel ahead of the third quarter when demand peaks.

More at Bloomberg link.

[daleo]

11. No obligatory "this was not caused by terrorism"?

They are slipping a bit.

[jmcgowanjm]

21. Houston Chronicle-cause not determined

But I think alot of people will be paying more
attention to whoever the source of FBI alert
was 5 days ago.

[MichaelHarris]

15. I used to live there

My brother and his family still do. I remember cringing everytime we heard alarms. About 2 weeks ago the History Channel had a cool special on the TC explosion in 1947 in which a new book "City on Fire" was recently released.

http://www.billminutaglio.com/cityonfire.html

There have been rumors that Tom Cruise, who owns the movie rights to the book, is planning a movie about the 47 explosion.

[Ilsa]

19. That would be cool.

I have family in Deer Park. Friends in Clear Lake City. I won't live there. My family in DP is always calling me when they have alarms go off. I don't know how she stands it.

[Lisa0825]

23. I live in TC, but I wasn't home when the explosion occurred.

I was on my way home from Houston when I heard about it on the radio. I stopped at a friends house to hang out until the 10pm news to see if it was OK to go home. By then, the reporters were doing their bit from right outside the gate, and no more mention was made of "shelter in place," so I went home. For the record, I didn't hear the radio or TV news here ever mention evacuating last night, just shelter in place (close doors and windows, turn off AC, and stay tuned).

I don't get fazed by much in TC. I have lived there on and off for 24 years, and we are pretty much used to sirens and occasional explosions. "Shelter in place" is the usual drill. I think some of the neighborhoods right across from the refineries get evacuated occasionally. I live about 2 miles away from BP, and have never been ordered to evacuate.

Back when I was in Jr High/High School, it seems like we had at least one explosion, fire, or leak of some sort every six months. Things appear to be much better since I moved back there about 4 years ago. This is the first major event since then.

[lostnfound]

24. KPFT News said 10 went to hospital; whole town was on "house shelter"

They must close windows & turn off air, for 2.5 hours.

I would guess that the 10 that went to hospital were probably respiratory issues.