"Oil Prices Up on Refinery Fires in U.S."

[GreenPartyVoter]

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - Refinery fires in Texas and Louisiana sent crude futures back above $60 a barrel Friday as the outages fanned fears that production may not be able to meet demand in coming months.

An explosion and fire at British Petroleum PLC's Texas City plant Thursday night came hours after a fire at Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR)'s 120,000-barrel-a-day Louisiana diesel hydrotreater, which removes sulfur from fuel. Murphy said damage to the unit was minimal, but offered no estimate of when it might restart.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 41 cents to $60.35 a barrel in electronic trading by midday in Europe. It had risen 83 cents to close at $59.94 Thursday in New York on news of the fire at Murphy's Meraux plant.

August delivery gasoline rose more than 2 cents to $1.7435 a gallon on Friday while heating oil edged up to $1.6480 a gallon.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20050729/D8BL29780.html

[rkc3]

Can anyone say Enron?

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. No, but I can say MoFos

[Just Me]

1. Ever since the numerous incidences of poisonings on cruise ships,...

,...I've often wondered whether this administration would intentionally cover-up terrorist acts that have occurred on our soil. Color me a wee paranoid and a lot suspicious.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Worries me too

[charlie]

3. BP in Texas City again?

They got flattened by an explosion just a few months ago.

[Bridget Burke]

6. Yes. Fifteen died at the last explosion.

Nobody died this week but BP has a bad record overall. Texas & National regulatory bodies give petrochemical plants gentle treatment.

Here's the latest Houston Chronicle version of the story.

www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3287337

(May need free registration. Or use Bugmenot.)

[dogday]

5. There have been several explosions in Texas

of late at these factories....

[Bridget Burke]

7. There are ALWAYS explosions at "these factories".

It's a fact of life here in the Cancer Belt. (A bunch of fumes were released at the last event.)

Some years ago, NPR covered a rare earthquake in West Texas. The local sheriff came from the Gulf Coast. His first thought: A refinery just blew up!