[MrBean]

[childish giggle]paskakuula!!!???[/childish giggle]
(=ball of shit if Finnish)

[backstop]

One thing is very clear is that there's no visible problem of access -
i.e. there is a condition there they don't want to discuss
which is either better than feared but they wish to maintain market angst or is bad enough to exacerbate market angst if discussed.
Given Bush's discomforture in having to admit a temp prob & higher gas $ on TV, the latter has to be the case I think.
Any other possibilities as reasons for denying the site's accessibility ?

[backstop]

There's also a lack of vehicles out around the site, while there appear to be about 30 round the bottom left corner of the pic.
So why haven't they got more crews checking the plant ?

[GreyGhost]

To lose one oil rig:
misfortune. To lose twenty:
looks like carelessness.

(Thanks to Oscar Wilde, Importance Being Earnest, 1895)

[gg3]

Some other disaster: for instance a 9/11 Anniversary Attack...?
Or maybe they'll wait until the right point in the cycle to affect heating oil prices downstream?
Releasing the reserves right now puts us in a far weaker position if something like that happens later.
I'd even go so far as to say it has the effect of *tempting* the barbarians to blow something up.

[frankthetank]

Backstop~

Just spent 20minutes going through those photos...and i counted 2...2 vehicles that had moved from one image to the next (notice how they overlap each other, but they were shot a little bit apart)...I could crop them out and post if you would like, but it doesn't really say much. Other then some roof damage and flooding, i really didn't notice anything that had looked collasped. A before pic would help big time. Also 4 fires were burning in those images, why? who knows.

I'm going to check terra&google to see if i can find one.

[Jaymax]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('backstop', 'O')ne thing is very clear is that there's no visible problem of access - i.e. there is a condition there they don't want to discuss

[kmann]

some links to info that is updated daily
Hurricane Katrina Situation Reports from Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (includes distribution pipelines and refineries)

GOM shut in statistics

[kmann]

EIA Special Report

another link with useful info

[marko]

Apparently, LOOP is hoping to go back online as soon as tomorrow with reduced capacity: Article
Also, the Colonial and Plantation pipelines connecting Texas and Louisiana with the Southeast and Northeast are back in operation at reduced capacity: Capacity

Article
At this point, the US has a little under three weeks' gasoline inventory. The problem in the past few days has not been inventory, it has been distribution with these major pipelines disabled.
I would expect to see regional gas shortages ease over the next week or so as pipelines come back online.
However, that three weeks' inventory will be slowly depleted with roughly 10% of refining capacity offline for an extended period. By my calculations, the real crunch would come around Thanksgiving if most of the Louisiana and Mississippi refining capacity is not restored by then. By the end of November, the US would be down to about a one week inventory of gasoline, assuming steady demand. If high prices kill some demand, we might make it into December.
By December, if the Louisiana refineries are not back online, we will be facing serious shortages of gasoline and heating oil. With the Gulf's natural gas infrastructure almost certainly offline through much of the fall, we could also be facing a serious lack of natural gas for heating and electricity generation by Thanksgiving or so.
It could be a very rough winter.

[MrBean]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('marko', 'I')t could be a very rough winter.

[BabyPeanut]

Link
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')OOP has resumed some operations, see press release for details

[MD]

It won't surprise me at all if refineries and the LOOP are on line long before New Orleans is stabilized and cleaned up.

Priorities, you know.

[Free]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'I')t won't surprise me at all if refineries and the LOOP are on line long before New Orleans is stabilized and cleaned up.
Priorities, you know.

[Armageddon]

but it takes thousands of wokers to work on the damaged rigs and infrastucture, and these workers are without homes, power, water, etc, since these workers live near the coastline.

[RealJoe]

Haven't had a chance to get online much and then spent that time reading what people wrote about Katrina and New Orleans. Humbled and silenced about the magnitude of the disaster and extent of human misery, but my focus is drawn to the extent of the damage to the offshore oil rigs, platforms, terminal depots and refinery on the Gulf Coast.
Am not sure if this question has been addressed, but it may be critical in how fast the petroleum infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico and along the coast is repaired and bought back into production. My question is this: Does the USA have enough roughnecks, oilriggers, refinery engineers and oil field workers to cope with and repaired the damaged equipment, platforms and refineries?

My suspicion is no, we don't and because these are highly skilled and likely dangerous occupations, not just anyone can be hired to work on this equipment. My belief, perhaps wrong, is that many of these roughnecks and engineers are older, in their 40s, 50s and 60s and that few young people have entered the field. Largely because the oil industry is looking toward the future, when oil discoveries shrink to nothing and there is no reason to grow employment in an industry entering its decline phase.
With another reason being that all existing drilling rigs are being used and manned at this moment looking for smaller oil and natural gas pockets. An entrepreneurial reality fueled by the high prices (which will only get higher) for petroleum. Meaning that everyone in the petroleum industry already has a job.
If this situation exists, it seems like a bottleneck that will be hard to solve.

[EnemyCombatant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')oes the USA have enough roughnecks, oilriggers, refinery engineers and oil field workers to cope with and repaired the damaged equipment, platforms and refineries?

[frankthetank]

I spent some more time scanning through those Chevron refinery sat pics and only came up with some really nice houses (right next to the refinery) destroyed.
The refinery itself looks like it suffered minor damage (Nothing looks toppled or crushed) although some roofs appear to have sections missing. Flooding looks like the major concern there and roads look to be either washed out, water covered or dirt/debris covered.
A funny thing i found out is that booth maps.google.com/terraserver have imagery of this area...but its HORRIBLE (not in color/not clear/not zoomed in enough) yet these look to be very high quality pics... Someone let them slip through!

A good point about lack of workers. I doubt many people are thinking about rebuilding rigs when there house is flattened/ or there loved ones are miles away scared. I also wonder where there going to find new rigs/how loong to build new rigs when Saudis are scooping up spares ones to send to the middle east??

[MrBean]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Free', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'I')t won't surprise me at all if refineries and the LOOP are on line long before New Orleans is stabilized and cleaned up.
Priorities, you know.

[Free]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBean', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Free', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'I')t won't surprise me at all if refineries and the LOOP are on line long before New Orleans is stabilized and cleaned up.
Priorities, you know.