Oil Tank Ablaze in Cushing After Lightning Strike

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Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- A 55,000-barrel oil storage tank in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude, caught fire after being struck by lightning during a thunderstorm.

The blaze, which began around 9:45 p.m. local time yesterday, was limited to the rim of the tank, Pete Schwiering, president of operator SemCrude, a unit of SemGroup Corp., said by telephone from Oklahoma City, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) southwest of Cushing. The fire may be out by midnight, keeping most of the oil inside the tank intact, he said.

“Right now, it’s just around the edge of that tank,” he said. “The fire department is there and ready to put foam on it. If they get it out with the foam, most of the crude should be intact.”

The tank is owned by Blueknight Energy Partners LP, Schwiering said. The company, the former SemGroup Energy Partners LP, has about 6.7 million barrels of storage at Cushing. The tank was leased by Calgary-based Nexen Inc. and contained oil from a combination of sources, including the Colorado Rockies, he said.

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