Refinery fire’s Interior impact unknown
Originally published Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 12:00 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 11:58 a.m.
Digg
delicious
Facebook
Mixx
Reddit
Stumble It!Edit: Heating oil supply changed from gallons to barrels.
FAIRBANKS — Petro Star officials say it could be three weeks before they know the extent of the damage to a Valdez refinery following a major blaze Sunday night.
Until then, officials also say it’s unclear how the Interior will be affected by stalled production at one of the state’s four refineries.
“We’re taking a look at the supply sources and supply issues for our customers right now,” Arctic Slope Regional Corp. spokeswoman Tara Sweeney said. “It’s so early in the process, we can’t give you a clear answer on that. The answers have yet to be determined.”
At the same time, Petro Star officials have reassured Valdez Mayor Bert Cottle and Copper Valley Electric Cooperative managers that supplies of home heating oil and 300 barrels per day of diesel fuel will hold steady.
“They assured us yesterday we would not see a shortage of fuel in Valdez,” said Sheri Pierce, public information officer for the city of Valdez. “They did not see any problem with bringing fuel from the North Pole facility to Valdez.”
Most homes in Valdez, which has a population of about 4,700 people, are heated with oil.
Sweeney said Petro Star hopes to meet demand by cranking up production at its smaller North Pole refinery, something the company will be able to do with special approval only by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
“We do need that relief,” she said. “It points to how critical it is for us to get the relief from the federal government, so we can fully utilize the capacity at the North Pole plant.”
About 1,000 barrels of home heating oil per day is trucked from Valdez to the Interior. On the flip side, some of the jet fuel produced at the company’s North Pole refinery is trucked to Anchorage markets.
That’s because of EPA rules that cap the quantities of certain products with higher sulfur content — including home heating oil and diesel fuel — that any one refinery is allowed to produce.
Sweeney said getting the EPA to allow the company to raise the cap at the North Pole refinery could be the pivot point for whether demand is met in Alaska.
The North Pole refinery output is about one-third each heating oil, on-and-off-road diesel fuel and jet fuel.
Flint Hills Resources also has a North Pole refinery that turns out significant amounts of home heating oil.
“We’re optimizing our production to make sure everyone has enough heating oil in Fairbanks,” Flint Hills refinery spokesman Jeff Cook said.
Meanwhile, Sweeney acknowledged that Petro Star likely won’t have more answers until the fire is investigated.
“We are not sure when the plant is going to be back online,” she said. “It is currently closed. There is just a very long process ahead of us.”
Crews are de-icing the area to prepare for an independent review as mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Investigators will try to determine how the fire started and the extent of the damage, which in turn will help define repair or rebuild time and costs.
“We won’t have preliminary reports at least, best case scenario, for three weeks,” Sweeney said.
Petro Star’s Valdez refinery supplies aviation fuel to Elmendorf Air Force Base. Sweeney said an alternative supply is secured. She could not say if the company supplies other military installations in Alaska, and whether those bases have found other fuel sources. Petro Star’s Web site indicates the North Pole refinery production is distributed to military bases such as Fort Wainwright, Fort Greely and Eielson Air Force Base, plus commercial customers including Ft. Knox Gold Mine, Alyeska Pipeline and the North Slope industrial market.
In operation since 1993, the Valdez refinery draws in about 48,000 barrels of oil per day, producing about 9,300 barrels of jet fuel for military and commercial use, 3,200 barrels of diesel fuel and 300 barrels of turbine fuel for the local electric utility.
Petro Star, a subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, does not make gasoline at either refinery. Fairbanks-area distributor Sourdough Fuel is a division of Petro Star.
Community Discussion
Newsminer.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full user's agreement.
Hairbrain, we're working to re-verify that number right now. Given the late hour, we may not be able to do that until morning, though. Sorry for the inconvenience, and if it is 1,000 barrels rather than 1,000 gallons -- I'd agree that seems somewhat small -- we'll correct it.
Well, I managed to wake up the reporter, and she did say that the source told her gallons. Hope that clears it up for you. :)
A couple of Fairbanks residents probably pay to truck up 1,000 gallons from Valdez because it's cheaper than what they can get in Fairbanks, eh?
.
Seeing the reporter is already awake, she should call her source and wake them up and ask, "What the heck, 1,000 gallons? Are you sure?
What I want to know is, when are we going to tell the E.P.A. to go to hell? If the refinery in north pole can produce more fuel, then it should be able to. Maybe provide us some relief from these crazy fuel prices. Just because they make more doesn't mean we'll burn more, but maybe we Alaskans could save a few pennies.
gee do you think they meant barrels. Didn't know refinerys sold by the gallon. The impact is simple, higher prices. pretty sure people in this town are burning more fuel in this past week and upcoming weeks then last year. At 40 to 60 below you'll be lucky if your oil burner ever stops running.
A typical tanker truck carries somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 gallons of fuel oil - so I'm sure the 1,000 gallon figure is inaccurate. 1,000 barrels equals 43,000 gallons which is probably closer.
Seems to me the EPA giving slack to petro star would be a bad idea... it is apparent enough that they do not have the required fail safes in place to avoid such disasters (fire). Slacking on EPA regs might help us right now - but in the end someone is just going to get hurt and more damage done.
Either way I am sure that this "emergency" will cause the price of fuel to be pushed up. Any sort of disruption is used to raise prices. Gotta go and order fuel for the house before the prices are raised.
OUT
I was hopeing the headline read Refinery Fires, Jeff Cook.Oh well,a girl can hope,right?
The EPA has nothing to do with preventing refinery fires. Prevention falls on the shoulders of the refinery insurance carrier, OSHA, and the local fire marshall having juristiction. The EPA is a regulatory agency - they deal with issues during construction and monitor the output of a facility. There are no maximum pollution specifications for a building on fire. This is considered Force Majure.
Demand for fuel products in Alaska's Interior are on the down swing thanks to last summer's high prices. Had oil not gone to $147 a barrel and this fire happened - it would have been a shock to the local supply and distribution system. Since everyone has been trying to be more fuel effecient and conserve the past 6 months....... this should only be a speed bump in price/demand.
I find that the article illustrates that the Petroleum supply/price situation is NOT a simple problem.... that there are factors, such as the EPA Production Limits, that also effect what's going on. Its easy for us arm-chair quarterbacks to spout all these solutions, but the solutions are more complicated, and it will take some extensive thinking to come up with something that will work. Some "tweaking" of laws and regulation can sometimes open up a whole bunch of solution that were not previously available, so we shud all endeavor to keep the ideas coming. The other story of the Pipeline shutting down for 6 hours illustrates how critical the tanker traffic is to the operation of the system....they can only put into the pipe what gets removed at Valdez... a lot of posters seem to forget that fact when they are accusing the Prudhoe Bay field operators of "slowing down" the production.
It's also possible that the 1,000 gallons/day is an average, and they're actually addressing what amounts to three trucks per month in 'real time.'
1,000 barrels per day. That makes more sense. Not very much, though. I guess I don't understand the EPA rules about refinery capacities.
It only takes a few days to set up a portable 625 barrel per day topping-plant...
Maybe some of you frozenfaced Texastransplants should call up your peckerwood cousin in Houston and ask him what kind of a deal he can get ya to buy a 625bpd topping-plant...
http://www.chemexinc.com/minirefineries....
Hint: Don't tell 'em you're from Alaska becuz the price will triple.
---
The first devastating refinery fire in Alaska was Christmas 1933 at Katalla...
...some say a case of whiskey brought in from Back-East had something to do with it.
Henry,
It's in the article.
>>That’s because of EPA rules that cap the quantities of certain products with higher sulfur content — including home heating oil and diesel fuel — that any one refinery is allowed to produce.<<
The price we pay few unfunded mandates!!!!!
DT, don.t give them any common sense answers. No one is listening!
Post a comment
Commenting requires registration.