TX Oil Refinery Explosion May Increase Gas Prices

[majorhavoc]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/23/energy/gas-prices-texas-refinery-blast/index.html

Gist of article is that price impacts won't be felt immediately. Don't know how they know that. The petroleum markets can be so volatile that a Saudi prince can stumble on a crack and I swear prices at the pump go up the next day.  In any case it bears watching if for no reason other than to potentially time your gas purchases come mid-January.

[Raptor]

IMO CNN's analysis is generally poor.

BTW unlike CNN I think the good news is that there were only 4 injuries and no deaths...but then I do not live by the MSM matra of "if it bleeds; it leads"

The good news for drivers — for now — is the refinery explosion won't immediately send gas prices higher.

The Phillips 66 refinery in NOLA is shutting down in January 2022. Hurricane Ida beat it up to point that is too expensive to repair. They are turning it into a storage facility for imported gasoline & diesel. That is cheaper and profitable.
https://www.nola.com/news/business/article_294144ac-6277-11ec-9206-fb1610214c50.html

The XOM refinery in question is a large and important refinery. That said XOM is likely to make sure it is functioning as quickly as possible. 

That said with this refinery down it is possible for short term supply issues but I suspect that it will not be long lived. 

[CG]

...I'm a bad, bad person.

My first thought was, Does this mean I get a new video of why things blow up from the NCSB? 

[Raptor]

As long as no one died..you are not a bad person for that thought.

[Anianna]

None of the news I watched today even mentioned this.  I wouldn't even know about it had you not posted it here.  Heck, now that I'm aware of it and looking into it, there's very little reporting on it.

I've read the article over a few times and, while this was an unfortunate incident, I feel like the article is reaching and fearmongering without any real basis for it.  First it says production "may be hampered" and later says what the loss from the shutdown of the facility would be as if that's actually the resulting impact.  Is the facility shut down entirely or is production maybe possibly merely hampered?  These are two different scenarios and I honestly find reporting by CNN in particular to be infuriating. 

According to the Reuters article, this occurred in one unit that was already shut down due to a leak and the people injured were contractors there to fix the leak and that it "is unclear whether any units will be shut for an extended length of time" as well as "Exxon is adjusting production rates at other Baytown processing units to focus on stabilizing the affected units, spokeswoman Julie King said".  Also, if the NBC article is any indication, this sort of thing isn't all that unusual and this one was pretty tame compared to some previous events.

CNN needs to just die off already with their garbage fearmongering.