BREAKING NEWS: BP Amoco Plant Explosion in Texas City

[WestHoustonDem]

KTRK is covering it. Lisa 0825 felt the explosion at her office.

[Lisa0825]

1. I felt it in my office in Galveston.

My house is about 2 miles from there. Just hoping I still have windows.

:scared:

[jbnow]

6. How far away is Galveston?

I guess I never thought of explosions being felt from may miles away.

[Lisa0825]

26. Galveston is about 15 miles from TC. (nt)

[WestHoustonDem]

56. Just heard from Lisa - Her windows are fine and nothing fell

down in her home. She doesn't have internet access at home or she'd report on it herself.

[RPM]

2. great - here comes the $3.00 gasoline

joy!

[crispini]

3. Brrr....

My first thought, of course, is that it's a terrorist strike. How sad that that's my first thought.....

[MichaelHarris]

4. My brother and his family

live very close to that plant. Please for us far far away keep us informed

[MuseRider]

9. Oh man that is so scary

I am sorry, I hope you find everything is OK. My brother lived in Houston and I was always upset when things of this nature, and the hurricanes, happened. I will think of you. Let us know if they are OK.

[MichaelHarris]

19. thank you

I was able to get in touch with my nephew at A&M and he is going to see if he can reach anyone. i've tried all the phone numbers cell and home and they are not going through. At least someone at the MSM saw fit to decide an explosion story is more important than alligator catching in florida. I think they thought the gator was on a feeding tube or something.

[WestHoustonDem]

20. Crap. 4 Fatalities

Life flight is landing right now for some severely injured. UTMB is expecting 10 people coming in for treatment

[Lisa0825]

5. Oh, I forgot to say... I can also see a big plume of smoke from here too.

I hope no one was killed.

[MichaelHarris]

10. I can't reach my

brother. I'm in Washington are the phones down? When I lived there they used to block calls after an explosion

[Lisa0825]

12. I think phone lines are down or jammed....

lady across the hall couldn't get through either.

[MichaelHarris]

15. thank you very much for all the info

I can't reach any of my family members.

[Lisa0825]

7. Galveston Daily News report

Blasts reported at Texas City plant

By TJ Aulds
The Daily News

Published March 23, 2005

TEXAS CITY — A large explosion has occurred in Texas City near the Dow Chemical and BP oil refinery. The blast, which could be felt as far away as Hitchcock, occurred at 1:20 p.m. Wednesday.

A large plume of black smoke could be seen above the city skyline. The explosion has been declared Level 3 by emergency management officials.

[Lisa0825]

8. watch online....

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/video/032305_plantexplosion.html

[oldtime dfl_er]

11. thanks for the link

Nothing on Cnn.com or google yet.

www.cafepress.com/showtheworld

[BikeWriter]

16. I can't see it out my second story window, and I'm only five miles away.

[Lisa0825]

17. Must be the angle you're seeing, bc I can see it in Galveston. (nt)

[BikeWriter]

21. I was on the first Fire Engine in on the big blast in the 70s...

Eight people were killed in it and it wiped out 1/2 to 2/3 of TCR.

[MichaelHarris]

23. I was working at

a grocery store part time there when that happened, it blew stuff off the shelves and chunks of metal flew everywhere

[BikeWriter]

25. Yes, the 70s one was a hell of an explosion! there were t least eight...

...million gallon LPG tanks, and beaucoup other fuel storage tanks. There was a tetraethyl lead tank went up in that, too. Extremely poisonous!

[crispini]

13. You might wanna post

in LBN to give it more coverage.....

[crispini]

14. Lady online is saying she's 4 blocks away from where it happened.

Knocked down a garage door, shook the building.

[MichaelHarris]

24. my brothers house is

about a block away

[BikeWriter]

35. Pard, I can't tell you don't worry, but he should be okay.

[Sparkle]

18. I just called my niece who lives in Texas City.

But she was in class at UT in Galveston. She said they heard a rumbling and they all wondered what it was. So they continued with the class but when it was breaktime, they read on the internet that it was an explosion at the plant in TX City. Glad she is okay.

[BikeWriter]

22. At least four fatalities they say on ch. 11

[merci_me]

27. CH 11, several people trapped...CNN Jeb pontificating. n/t

[Lisa0825]

28. shelter in place has been lifted. (nt)

[BikeWriter]

30. Two life flight choppers coming in...

[crispini]

29. Now they're saying 11 injured. nt

[crispini]

31. Channel 13 is saying the FBI is investigating.

No report as of yet.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

32. Reuters has a report now

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050323/us_nm/bp_refinery_explosion_dc_1

TEXAS CITY, Texas (Reuters) - An explosion rocked BP's huge refinery in Texas City, Texas, on Wednesday, the company said, and local television reported that four people were killed in the blast.



Another 10 people were rushed to the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, according to the televised report.

The BP refinery, the third largest refinery in the country, has a throughput of 470,000 barrels per day.

"Our firemen are on scene assessing the situation and we have no further information at this time," said a spokeswoman for the Texas City Fire Department.

Clouds of black smoke were billowing from several fires at the plant. One refinery expert said the site appeared to be part of the refinery used to make gasoline.

It goes on to say the explosion was on the west end of the refinery. Anyone familiar with the layout of the place?

[slutticus]

33. Ch. 13 says no fatalities

...as of now.

11+ injured

[rainbow4321]

34. BP official now says "no deaths"...

I hope he is right! Looking at the scene, that would be a miracle!

[BikeWriter]

36. Great! Ch. 11 just talked to their safety man's wife. She said he told...

her five minutes ago "no" fatalities.

[Lisa0825]

37. KTRH radio reports the medical examiner has been called to the scene...

she said that indicates there has been a fatality.

of 4 patients who have arrived at UTMB, 2 are critical, one serious, no word on the fourth. More on the way.

[BikeWriter]

39. Damn, that sucks. ;-(

[BikeWriter]

38. Now Ch. 11 says BP confirmed four dead, despite the other word.

Shit, it may be hours before we know for sure!

[Lisa0825]

40. KTRH reports 25 people being treated at Mainland Center Hospital...

15 plant employees and 10 walk-ins from the residential area. I imagine these would be less serious injuries since this is not a hospital with a major trauma center.

[Sparkle]

41. Here's a link from the Galveston Daily News:

http://www.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=07f00f5048aaf9b6

[merci_me]

42. Enormous loss of life

On edit, I see that Sparkle's link above to the Galveston newspaper is being kept well updated.

Channel 11 in Houston is reporting the deaths now at 12 to 20. They still haven't reached all inside.

Plus the latest count of patience at MainLand Hospital is at 60. I haven't heard about UT Galveston, where I would think serious burn patients would have been sent.

BPAmoco will have a press conference at 7pm.

Mary

[CindyDale]

43. This is horrible. I hope it wasn't terrorism. n/t

[BikeWriter]

48. I worked for the Texas City Fire Department for five years...

then retired from a chemical plant on the Houston Ship Channel. It's more likely an ignored safety problem. It happens every few years in these refineries and chemical plants. I personally filed four OSHA complaints that were upheld.

[CindyDale]

51. That's very sad, but I'm glad it wasn't terrorism. n/t

[BikeWriter]

55. I have beaucoup contacts in that town. I'll let you know if I hear things.

[rainbow4321]

44. One witness said he saw "8 people laying on the ground dead"

It was a friend of the witness who was being interviewed by the local ABC station...but the anchor stopped him short by saying that they had to go with the "4 dead" story since that, at the time, was the official.
Judging by the pics and the video shown through out the afternoon, it's not surprising to hear the death toll rise...so sad!

[BikeWriter]

45. They're saying between twelve and twenty dead now.

The toll is rising. :-(

[WestHoustonDem]

47. Is it being televised anywhere?

[sonias]

46. Terrible news

So sorry for the families of the workers and nearby neighborhoods. This is exactly why everyone complains about industry being located too close to neighborhoods.

Sonia

[BikeWriter]

49. I survived the Texas City Disaster of 1947. There were more than...

six hundred of us killed. I haven't heard any fatalities were from the neighborhood in this one as yet.

[babylonsister]

50. 7:30pm. Local news just reported 14 dead so far.

SO tragic.

[BikeWriter]

52. Aww crap! The odds are I know some of them. I was born and raised there.

[babylonsister]

53. What can I say other than I hope

not?:hug:

[BikeWriter]

54. Thank you, Ma'am. That's kind of you.

[tammywammy]

57. I have family that works in refineries in the Port Arthur area

This is very scary.

:hug: for those here that know people that are involved.

[BikeWriter]

58. It can be a dangerous profession, but there's danger in everything.

[BikeWriter]

59. From what I hear the unit was in a turnaround, and it wasn't a cracker...

...it seems to have been a storage tank that exploded. So far most of the fatalities were subcontractors, not BP Amoco people. They could still be from the local area.

[crispini]

60. Um, could you explain

for those of us who don't speak oil-n-gas? Turnaround? Cracker?

Thanks! :hi:

[Hokie]

61. Explanation of TAR

TAR = Turnaround, it is a planned shutdown of one or more units for maintenance. They usually last for several weeks.

Cracker = Fluid catalytic cracking unit or FCCU. It is a unit that turns heavy crude fractions into gasoline by "cracking" the molecules into smaller ones. It makes a big portion of the gasoline in a refinery.

My hearts go out to all the folks who lost loved ones there in Texas City. I get down there on business pretty often and you are great, hard working people. This accident is just terrible news.

[BikeWriter]

62. Thanks for explaining that, Hokie. I found out a few moments ago...

my Nephew had taken guage readings in that unit about fifteen minutes before the explosion. We have something to be thankful for.

[Hokie]

64. I read somewhere the fire was in the isomerization unit

If so those units process light hydrocarbons in the range of butane. There most have been a major leak that produced a vapor cloud that ignited. That is one of the worst things that can happen in a refinery except for maybe an HF acid release from and HF alkylation unit. This is the worst refinery accident since the one at Norco, LA a few years ago that had multiple fatalities.

[Catherine Vincent]

63. heh, when I read that last night I didn't know what he was talking about.

Cracker? Is that something like a pig (oil pipeline talk):-)

[rainbow4321]

65. I have no clue if this is related at all but...

Apparently one day last week part of the plant was having problems and was shut briefly shut down..it's all Greek to me but I found it interesting when they announced during the coverage yesterday about the recent problem.

http://news.morningstar.com/news/DJ/M03/D18/200503181710DOWJONESDJONLINE001003.html



BP Texas City Catcracker On-Line, Shutdown Brief -

A fluid catalytic cracking unit at BP Plc's (BP) Texas City, Texas, refinery was back in service Friday after experiencing a brief shutdown Thursday, according to sources familiar with operations there.

The company filed a report with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Thursday stating that feed was removed from the unit after an upset that resulted in flaring.

"One of the (FCC) units was shut down yesterday afternoon and it was already back on-line earlier today," a source said.

The refinery, rated at 437,000 barrels a day crude oil processing capacity, has total catalytic cracking capacity of about 225,000 b/d, according to the Energy Information Administration

[BikeWriter]

66. Yes, this could very well have been the harbringer of the explosion.