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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » 60 million gallons of gasoline blow up near London (Page 1)

 
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Author Topic: 60 million gallons of gasoline blow up near London
Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

- posted 12-11-2005 09:07 AM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Just after 6am this morning there was a very big bang in a fuel storage depot about 30 miles north of London, which apparently could be heard up to 100 miles away! 'In total, 20 petrol tanks are involved in the fire, each said to hold three million gallons of fuel.' (story here - link to BBC News Online article of 11 December 2005).

Apparently this depot is one of five in Britain. This leads me to wonder if we're going to see shortages in the south-east and steep fuel price rises in the next few days, given that 20% of the country's storage capacity has been knocked out. Interestingly the media coverage isn't mentioning this aspect at all - possibly in an attempt to prevent panic buying.

Shame no-one managed to video the explosion, though - it would put my little collection of nitrate fire videos in the shade! [evil]

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

- posted 12-11-2005 01:58 PM      Profile for Daryl C. W. O'Shea   Author's Homepage   Email Daryl C. W. O'Shea   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I'm sure a number of people, yet to be discovered, got killed in that explosion. Not good.

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 12-11-2005 02:04 PM      Profile for Greg Mueller   Author's Homepage   Email Greg Mueller   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Sounds like terrorists
Now you guys will get screwed at the pump, like we did because of Katrina

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

- posted 12-11-2005 03:22 PM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Daryl: the media reporting so far has been emphatic in stating that there were no deaths - if they had reported any I wouldn't have included jokes in my post above. That having been said and thinking about it a little more, if anyone was very close to the storage tanks at the time, we may well not know that they're a victim for some time. That depends on how careful the signing in & out procedures were in the facility, I guess.

quote: Greg Mueller
Sounds like terrorists
The news media is reporting the official Police line, which is that they believe it to be an accident but obviously can't be sure about anything as yet. If it was a terrorist attack I'm a bit surprised that no claims of responsibility have been reported.

quote: Greg Mueller
Now you guys will get screwed at the pump, like we did because of Katrina
We got screwed by Katrina too - the knock on effect of increased oil exports from Europe to the US pushed pump prices up here a bit, although the hike only lasted 2-3 weeks. I can't believe that we won't be screwed by this, although it looks like aviation will be the main problem. According to a report on the radio just now, that depot supplied all the major airports serving London (except Gatwick) by a direct pipeline. It looks like there'll certainly be fuel shortages (great news - I'm supposed to fly to Heathrow on Wednesday, and domestic flights will be the first ones to go if cancellations are needed).

In any case, this certainly buggers our chances of meeting the Kyoto targets!

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

- posted 12-11-2005 06:06 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
God damn it I love explosions. Why can't anything really big ever explode in Denver, like, ummm... something that doesn't affect me or something like that?

Oil companies will use ANY excuse to raise prices. They posted their biggest profits ever and are saying that they need to raise profits.. errr prices because of demand? Just like natural gas (heating) prices are going up... they are raising them just because they can and there's not a god damn thing we can do about it.

If this was a terrorist attack (highly doubtful) then it was a sloppy one because mass amounts of people didn't die. If they want to do this just to raise gas prices, then they can do that just by raising the prices themselves since they own the oil companies. Everybody on this board funds terrorism whether they like it or not.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 12-11-2005 06:11 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Is Joel Silver producing a movie in the UK? That could explain those explosions.

We have seen a 15 cent price increase just over the past week on gasoline just over the cold snap this past week. Mind you, these are price increases levied on fuel that was already in the gasoline station's tanks and fuel that had been purchased on contract weeks ago.

It's kind of funny how the prices will increase immediately on any hint of bad news, yet take a long time to decline even after demand wanes.

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Andy Muirhead
Master Film Handler

Posts: 323
From: Galashiels, Scotland
Registered: Dec 2000

- posted 12-11-2005 07:11 PM      Profile for Andy Muirhead   Email Andy Muirhead   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Greg Mueller
Sounds like terrorists
Now you guys will get screwed at the pump, like we did because of Katrina
Of course it's terrorists, my first thought exactly, I mean accidents don't happen anymore therefore it has to be terrorism. Never mind that it is a storage facility of volatile chemicals /sarcasm off

As Leo said, Katrina hit the pump prices over here. Not just 'a bit' as Leo suggested but quite significantly. Today I heard some reports of panic buying at the pumps from some really stupid motorists I assume. The last time people were panic buying I went to refuel as my car was low, I saw the queue and never even bothered even though I had about an 1/8th of a tank left.. Then laughed two days later as I filled my car for about 10p cheaper per litre.

UPDATE: Supposedly the biggest fire in Europe in peacetime. 43 casualties, mostly walking wounded.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
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- posted 12-11-2005 10:49 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Walking wounded? That doesn't sound too bad. They weren't wounded too bad otherwise they'd be running to the nearest hospital.

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Stephen Furley
Film God

Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002

- posted 12-12-2005 02:51 AM      Profile for Stephen Furley   Email Stephen Furley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I have to question the wisdom of storing such large quantities in one location, and not very far from residential areas.

Thankfully, it does seem that it's not as bad as it could easily have been. I suppose that at that time of day a lot of people would still have been at home, and therefore had some protection. I have no idea how many people would have been working in the depot at the time; if it is correct that none were killed then they were indeed very lucky.

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Pete Naples
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1565
From: Dunfermline, Scotland
Registered: Feb 2001

- posted 12-12-2005 03:18 AM      Profile for Pete Naples   Email Pete Naples   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Greg Mueller
Now you guys will get screwed at the pump
Like we aren't already?!

Even my beloved lpg has hit over £0.40/l in some places. One station has gone bust locally, he bitched and complained in the paper, but omits to mention that his prices were consistently the highest for 20 odd miles around!

Accidents like this are rare, fortunately, but do happen. Remember Bopal? Or closer to home for us was the Grangemouth refinery maybe 20 years ago, my parents house is about 10 miles from there as the crow flies. We were awoken one sunday mornign to the mother of all explosions, the house shook, dust everywhere. out of the top windows you could see the small mushroom cloud, flames and billowing smoke.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

- posted 12-12-2005 03:46 AM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The station I usually fill up with LPG at increased its prices from 37.9p to 39.9p a litre, which is still cheaper than the average (43-44p) in the York area. When I asked why, they told me that fuel duty on LPG was increased more than it was on petrol this year, effective from September, and that a big increase in LPG sales over the summer was squeezing supplies.

quote: Andy Muirhead
As Leo said, Katrina hit the pump prices over here. Not just 'a bit' as Leo suggested but quite significantly.
About a fortnight after Katrina hit, petrol prices went up from around 88p to 92-93p a litre (and Diesel by a similar amount). They were on their way back down again by mid-September, and are now below the 90p mark in most places round here.

quote: Joe Redifer
If this was a terrorist attack (highly doubtful) then it was a sloppy one because mass amounts of people didn't die.
If their aim was to create instability and a major low-level nuisance by disrupting transport in the run-up to Christmas, I'd say it was possibly quite a clever one. Furthermore, the fact that there weren't immediate mass casualties (although the thousands of people who are likely to need medical care for minor respiratory issues could hit the economy significantly) will make extensive investigation into possible terrorist involvement less likely.

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Greg Mueller
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1687
From: Port Gamble, WA
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 12-12-2005 10:42 AM      Profile for Greg Mueller   Author's Homepage   Email Greg Mueller   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I recall one of the biggest terrorist in the middle east set fire to all the oil wells in Kuwait, a few years back....
Didn't kill a lot of people, but sure raised hell in other ways...

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

- posted 12-12-2005 02:56 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Terrorists are responsible for everything. That's why we gotta knock 'em out in our "crusade" against them.

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Louis Bornwasser
Film God

Posts: 4441
From: prospect ky usa
Registered: Mar 2005

- posted 12-12-2005 03:16 PM      Profile for Louis Bornwasser   Author's Homepage   Email Louis Bornwasser   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I guesso...in my youth everything was A COMMIE PLOT! Louis

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Andy Muirhead
Master Film Handler

Posts: 323
From: Galashiels, Scotland
Registered: Dec 2000

- posted 12-12-2005 06:47 PM      Profile for Andy Muirhead   Email Andy Muirhead   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Leo Enticknap
About a fortnight after Katrina hit, petrol prices went up from around 88p to 92-93p a litre (and Diesel by a similar amount). They were on their way back down again by mid-September, and are now below the 90p mark in most places round here.
Up here, they went up to around £1.01 a litre.

Anyway as Pete said, we get shafted for petrol in the UK regardless of the world or local oil situation.

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