[Jaymax]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')ccess to some of the refineries is difficult. Conditions at those locations are as follows

[richardmmm]

St PetersburgTimes
here is what is used to look like.
seems as though the offices etc. were blown off the top.
probably just a module that can be replaced.

[KevO]

According to the BBC 24 on UK TV a minute ago, there is breaking news of there being 20 rigs lost.
I assume that means lost as in kaputt as opposed to not being able to find them but I can't find a web link as yet.
These rigs aren't going back on-line this side of Christmas are they?
this is it isn't it?
a double whammy of global warming and peak oil both of which do not officially exist in the eyes of the US admin.
If Americans didn't understand irony, they should now.
There is also news of there being 'thousands' dead in New Orleans on the BBC:
BBC
This is tryly terrible and hurricane season is only half way thro'
jeez

[richardmmm]

This is in the NYTimes today: NYTimes
definitely some heel dragging going on with the damage reports.
don't tell me there aren't oil company and government helicopters with cameras on board swarming over the area since monday afternoon.
The Coast Guard said that its crews had spotted several sunken platforms and rigs. The destruction was often accompanied by oil spills.
"We're still in the preliminary stages of identifying what damage had been done," Petty Officer Larry Chambers, a Coast Guard spokesman, said. "It could take a couple of days. Some of them are definitely sunk and some of them are definitely out of place."
The Coast Guard was starting to dispatch hazardous-materials teams to deal with oil and chemical spills yesterday afternoon, although most of its activities remain focused on rescuing people, he said.

[richardmmm]

Gulf oil, gas output posts slim gain: Marketwatch
The Minerals Management Service, in its daily tally, said about 1.37 million barrels, or 91.5%, of the Gulf's daily oil production remained shut two days after the storm, down from 95.2% Tuesday.
At the same time, the daily volume of natural gas production shut fell to 8.35 billion cubic feet, or 83.5%, down from 88% a day ago.
Oil and gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico account for about 25% of the nation's energy production.
A total of 561 oil and natural-gas rigs and platforms are unmanned, the report said, down from 735 on Tuesday, the MMS reported.
"Even flying is a problem. Range becomes an issue. We can't use airports in Louisiana," he said, adding that helicopters simply don't have enough fuel capacity to survey the farthest offshore rigs when forced to fly from Florida or Texas airports.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('linlithgowoil', 'y')ou would think they would have a refined products reserve as well though? there isnt a whole lot of point in having tons of crude if you cant refine it is there.
anyone know if they also have been buying up gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuels etc and storing them in tanks?

[frankthetank]

Is this the Chevron Refinery??? MFProducts
and more
See for yourself
What kind of damage can you see?
If this has been posted, moderator please delete!
MAIN PAGE

[some_guy282]

Well, that's no good.

If this story proves to be true, what percentage of rigs is this that were exposed to hurricane strength winds?

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')Our citizens must understand this storm has disrupted the capacity to make gasoline and to distribute gasoline," the president said.

[frankthetank]

WOW...you can see the flare from the gas on this one! Flare

[LadyRuby]

This afternoon NPR reported that the coast guard said that about 20 (maybe they said more than 20) rigs are floating or missing. That's about the closest thing I've found for "official" news.

[sjn]

On BBC2 Newsnight they said the 20 Rigs were "missing". So it seems that it's "lost" as in "not being able to find them" rather than "lost as in kaputt".

[strider3700]

In the infrastructure thread there is a link to an insider report she listed 15 as being on the bottom.

If 20 really are on the bottom then it should only take 3 or 4 years to replace them. That accounts for anywhere from 80 to 600 wells no longer being pumped depending on which rigs are gone.

[frankthetank]

alert...we've got another one down

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') preliminary inspection of the company's semisubmersible rig Deepwater Nautilus has revealed significant damage to the rig's mooring system and the loss of approximately 3,200 feet of marine riser and a portion of the unit's subsea well control system which remained suspended at the time the unit was evacuated. The rig, which was previously reported to have drifted off location, has been secured by an offshore service vessel approximately 80 miles from its moored position prior to the storm.

Because further inspection is necessary to determine the full extent of damage, the company is presently unable to assess the length of time required to complete repairs and return the Deepwater Nautilus to service.

[Jaymax]

Okay Frank,
Some things I've noticed...
The index at Alt actually stops just west of the refinery proper.
The photo in your second post (24330076.jpg), shows the refinery, but isn't linked from the index! well done for finding it.
More (virtually all) of the vertical structures appear to be still standing - that surprises me.
It's not the dust I was expecting, just toast. Couldn't see the flaring though - where is that? EDIT: found it
Here's an old photo I found for context
Photo
- the clusters on storage tanks towards the bottom of 24330076.jpg can be seen centre-left (6 tanks) and above and to the right of that (3 tanks). The refinery proper is the quandrant right of that.

[frankthetank]

Almost top right hand corner of the pic you can see the flames...

I thought this was the refinery...looks like the road is either washed out, mud covered, or covered with water...hard to tell. Not a lot of damage, but then again its only one view....

[LadyRuby]

I heard the same thing on NPR this afternoon. Can't recall if it said about 20, or more than 20. My impression was that it said they were gone or floating.

[Jaymax]

It is very hard to tell... also being an industrial site, there are places where (eg) there clearly used to be a storage tank, but now there isn't. Is it the storage tank nearby has been blown a short distance (unlikely, I think, in this case) - or was it just dismantled some time in the last year or however long these marks remain? I guess it looked pretty 'rough' even before the hurricane...
There are vertical structures that look very much as if they are not at quite the same angle as their neighbours - but then, you look again, and maybe it's a trick of the light - or maybe it's a different shape... etc.
There clearly have been some big bits blowing around -and they maybe did a fair bit of damage.
But generally, the structure is there -and it looks repair rather than rebuild -but I'm picking that there's a lot of small-scale damage, pipes punctured, or loose, fallen over, etc -that will take a long time to complete...

[LadyRuby]

Found a Reuters article confirming this: Yahoo
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ednesday August 31, 7:00 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Inspectors waded through flooded refineries and helicopters passed over wounded drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, as oil companies struggled to assess how long it would take to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
The U.S. Coast Guard reported at least 20 oil rigs or platforms missing in the Gulf of Mexico, while officials estimated 95 percent of regional oil and natural gas production and eight refineries along the coast remained shut down.

[Leanan]

CNN just did a story about Katrina's effect on the oil industry. They showed the LOOP and Fourchon. They looked pretty bad. They also showed those damaged oil rigs.

The story was negative enough that I expect a lot more people to run to the gas station to top off.