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Refiners' storm plans greatly improved, NPRA president says

Oil & Gas Journal

Nick Snow
Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, May 14 -- Refiners have greatly enhanced their storm preparation procedures in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, reported National Petrochemical & Refiners Association Pres. Charles T. Drevna to a US Senate committee May 13.

"Almost every refinery on the Gulf Coast has performed process analyses of the time it takes to enact a full shutdown procedure, which tells how long it takes to drain the tanks of inventory to prevent leakage or fill them with water to ensure buoyancy and minimize damage to the tanks and surrounding equipment," he said in written testimony submitted to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Facilities monitor the projected path of each storm during hurricane season and react accordingly, with different levels of reaction depending on how far the storm is out to sea, he continued. "The process is based on the idea of a trip wire: If it takes a plant 36 hours to empty its tanks of inventory and fill them with water, and if the plant is in the storm arc 36.5 hours out, shutdown procedures are enacted," he said.