| At Ease! Rita Spares Refineries |
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Chetan Anand, 24x7 Updates
Hurricane Rita caused some damage to oil refineries near the Texas-Louisiana border and raised the prospect of gasoline shortages and higher prices during the arduous process of restarting refineries all along the Gulf Coast. But it did not cause the widespread destruction of the energy infrastructure that some had feared. On the edge of this workaday city of refineries and modest ranch houses near Galveston, a flare burned silently from a tower at the large BP refinery on Saturday afternoon, evidence that it was largely unscathed.
Up and down the energy corridor between Galveston and Houston, industry officials said refining locations had managed to avoid extensive damage from the hurricane, which made landfall to the east, near the Louisiana border.
Refineries sat waiting for workers to return to assess their conditions. In Texas City, there were no signs of wind damage or flooding at any refining installations.
Egrets gathered in the marshes in the shadow of refineries and petrochemical complexes owned by energy giants like Valero, BP, Marathon-Ashland and Praxair. A toppled sign from a Phillips 66 gas station was the only indication that a hurricane’s edge had passed through.
The situation was less sanguine in and near Port Arthur, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, near the Texas-Louisiana border, where officials said they expected refineries and industrial plants to be out of service longer because of heavy wind damage, power failures and scattered flooding.
Depending on how much of the US’ already stretched refining capacity is affected and for how long, that could cause shortages of gasoline and other fuels and push up retail prices again.
"It looks like we may have dodged some of the bullet in terms of the impact," said John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute. "It certainly is better than if it had hit some of the bigger refining centers."
Chuck Dunlap, who rode out the storm with 50 others at Pasadena Refining Systems, just outside Houston, said that at first glance, his plant and other facilities in the area appeared to have sustained limited damage. But even so, it will take a few days for his plant, which normally processes about 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day, to return to full speed.
With hurricane winds extending 110km from the center of the storm, Galveston and Houston got heavy rain and strong gusts of more than 120kph, and they sustained scattered damage. Royal Dutch Shell and Valero Energy said their Houston-area plants would be restarted as workers returned and power was fully restored.
Companies shut down 16 big refineries that make up about 23 percent of the nation’s capacity in the days before Hurricane Rita struck. Less than half of the facilities that closed were in or near Port Arthur or Lake Charles.
Finally the world can now see soaring oil prices retracting after causing enough havoc in households across the globe.
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| Are Charities Geared Up For Rita? - Sep 24, 2005 9:38 IST |
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The American Red Cross asked Americans to give more to help hurricane victims, saying the $853 million donated for Katrina is less than half what’s needed. Rita will require even more. "We have a long way to go in our fundraising to meet the needs of people from Katrina, let alone what we need to do for the people of Rita," Senior Vice President of Preparedness and Response Joe Becker said Friday. "As fast as the money is coming in, we are spending it."
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| Houston Joins Evacuation as Rita Strengthens - Sep 22, 2005 16:42 IST |
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Hurricane Rita is heading for what could be a direct hit on the Texas Gulf Coast in three days, and has already strengthened to a category 5 storm, the most powerful and potentially devastating in life and property,
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| Extradition Approved for London Bombings Suspect - Sep 13, 2005 19:11 IST |
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Rome, Italy(24x7updates) -- Highest Court of Italy has upheld the extradition of Hamdi Issac, a suspect in the failed July 21 bombing attempts in London. He was captured later in the city of Rome.
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| US, Iraqi Forces Attack Tal Afar, 150 Dead - Sep 11, 2005 20:14 IST |
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Baghdad -- Iraqi and US troops pressed on Saturday with an all-out offensive to wrest control of a town from Sunni Arab insurgents, with the Iraqis reporting nearly 150 rebels killed and the town mayor resigning in protest.
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| John G. Roberts to Replace William H. Rehnquist as Chief Justice - Sep 5, 2005 23:28 IST |
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Washington (24x7Updates) -- President Bush nominated Judge John G. Roberts Jr. today to replace Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, whose death late Saturday opened a second vacancy on the Supreme Court and a new front in the ideological battle over the judiciary.
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| Indonesia Airliner Carrying 109 Crashes on Take-Off - Sep 5, 2005 11:2 IST |
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Jakarta (24x7Updates) -- An Indonesian Boeing 737-200 operated by low cost airline Mandala Airlines crashed soon after taking off from Polonia airport in the northern city of Medan on Sumatra Island.
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| 3 Carnival Cruise Ships Deployed for Refugees - Sep 4, 2005 17:56 IST |
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Carnival Cruise Lines announced Saturday that the U.S. government has chartered three luxury cruise liners - Ecstacy, Sensation and Holiday - for the next half year, to provide temporary housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
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| Bush pumping in more support for Gulf Coast - Sep 3, 2005 22:34 IST |
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Washington (24x7Updates) -- President Bush, seeking to stem criticism that a slow federal response has contributed to needless misery, said Saturday he is ordering additional active duty forces to the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast.
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| European Union seeks to address Turkey Membership Talks - Sep 2, 2005 19:40 IST |
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Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) will meet on Thursday seeking to remove last-minute obstacles to membership talks with Turkey, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported.
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| 843 Dead in Baghdad Stampede - Sep 1, 2005 8:6 IST |
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THE death toll in the worst single loss of life since the start of the Iraq war was last night heading towards 1,000 after a crowd of about one million Shiite pilgrims making their way across a bridge in Baghdad panicked at reports of a suicide bomber in their midst and stampeded.
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