Leak shows BP knew of Texas risk - The Observer

[Eugene]

Leak shows BP knew of Texas risk


Board was told of link between spending cuts and
poor maintenance at oil refinery years before blast

Oliver Morgan, industrial editor
Sunday March 18, 2007
The Observer

BP baord directors were made aware of the link between spending cuts
and poor maintenance at its Texas City refinery two-and-a-half years
before the fatal explosion at the site in March 2005, according to
documents seen by The Observer

An internal presentation made to John Manzoni, chief executive for
refining and marketing, in November 2003 links the 'history of reduced
investment' at the Texas City refinery with 'poor maintenance practices'.
It also makes clear that the refinery's performance on safety, integrity
and maintenance, was weak.

Investigators for the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation
Board (CSB) have been investigating the cause of the accident for two
years and their final report will be published on Tuesday. They believe
that the legacy of low investment in Texas City throughout the 1990s
and the rate of spending cuts accelerated in the two years after BP's
1998 takeover of previous owner Amoco - led to problems with the
'mechanical integrity' of the plant that could have led to the accident.

The CSB's chairwoman, Carolyn Merritt, told The Observer last week
that there was a link between cost cutting and the accident, in which
15 people were killed. BP denies this link.

-snip-

Full article: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2036358,00.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Prediction:

If someone digs far enough, they will find that the big refinery companies have no intention of investing meaningfully in infrastructure in the US. They want to ship in gasolene from outside the country to frive up price and profits.

[Robbien]

2. Not surprising that this is only being reported in UK press

When the refinery blew up it was all over the US news. Now that we find out that everyone knew it was going to blow, the report is only in foreign press.

Of course, nothing has really been done to change anything so we can expect problems in the future.