August 30th, 2017:
Fresh safety warnings for Shell at Brent Charlie
Shell rig was shut down amid explosion risk
Written by Mark Lammey –
Issuing a prohibition notice, the Health and Safety Executive said the Armada platform’s flare system pipe had been operating despite being in a “degraded state”.
The inspector said the fault presented a risk of “serious personal injury” and could have led to an explosion.
Shell said it had carried out improvement work on the platform, enabling the company to bringing it back online in July.
Shell added the platform to its portfolio when it took over BG Group.
Hurricane Harvey Tosses Global Oil Markets Into Chaos
By Nick Cunningham – Aug 28, 2017, 6:00 PM CDT
The most powerful Hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years has devastated much of the coast, and the historic flooding is now causing havoc in the energy markets.
The rain is not over, and will continue over the next few days, spilling a year’s worth of rain within a week.
ExxonMobil shut down its Baytown refinery, the second largest in the United States with a capacity of 560,500 bpd. Royal Dutch Shell closed its 360,000 bpd Deer Park refinery, according to S&P Global Platts, and Phillips 66 shut down its 247,000 bpd Sweeny refinery.