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Author Topic: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report  (Read 1904 times)

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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« on: March 30, 2018, 09:43:23 pm »
Public records request show customer dissatisfaction with Energy Department.

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Three companies that have purchased crude oil from the United States now claim the oil contained unusually high levels of poisonous chemicals, according to Reuters.

Internal Energy Department emails obtained by Reuters show that Royal Dutch Shell, the Australian bank Macquarie Group, and PetroChina International America (the U.S. trading arm of a Chinese state-owned energy firm) have all been dissatisfied with the quality of oil purchased from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Shell oil trader Steve Sellers wrote that his multinational company was "unpleasantly surprised” to discover high levels of hydrogen sulfide (HS2) in oil purchased from the SPR, the world's largest government reserve.

High H2S incidents are rare in the crude world, but are typically caused by the blending of different crude grades. If one crude grade was placed in a barrel where a different crude grade has resided, contamination becomes a possibility. The Energy Department has declined to comment on the finding.

HS2 is a colorless, flammable, hazardous gas that naturally occurs in petroleum. It is detectable by its rotten egg smell. Decontamination before a sale is standard practice around the world, and not just because of the stink. HS2 can corrode pipelines and has a wide array of negative affects on people depending on levels exposure. According to OSHA, symptoms can range from nausea and loss of sleep to nearly instant death.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a19634690/us-poisoned-crude-oil/?src=nl&mag=pop&list=nl_pnl_news&date=033018
Most of the oil is stored in salt domes, which characteristically also contains H2S and sulfur, among other contaminants.
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Offline WingNot

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2018, 10:03:04 pm »
Caveat emptor.
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Offline the_doc

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2018, 10:05:18 pm »
Quote from: IsailedawayfromFR on March 30, 2018, 09:43:23 pm
Public records request show customer dissatisfaction with Energy Department.
Most of the oil is stored in salt domes, which characteristically also contains H2S and sulfur, among other contaminants.

Yeah, this is a problem, but I think we have known about it for years. I believe that the SPR uses some salt domes near Houston that have a lot of sulfur and likely a lot of H2S.  By the way,@IsailedawayfromFR, do you know anything about the salt domes that store ethylene east of Houston?  (H2S is probably the least of their worries, but still....)
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Online DB

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2018, 10:07:43 pm »
What... Government geniuses bought crap oil, probably via crony connections getting top dollar? What a surprise...
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2018, 10:08:19 pm »
Quote from: the_doc on March 30, 2018, 10:05:18 pm
  By the way,@IsailedawayfromFR, do you know anything about the salt domes that store ethylene east of Houston?  (H2S is probably the least of their worries, but still....)
I used to be up on underground storage of oil and gas, but not on anything else.

Stored correctly and recognizing the potential for contamination, salt domes are fantastic storage systems.
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2018, 10:09:20 pm »
Quote from: DB on March 30, 2018, 10:07:43 pm
What... Government geniuses bought crap oil, probably via crony connections getting top dollar? What a surprise...
Not likely.  More likely it was contaminated by natural minerals which occur with salt domes.
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Offline the_doc

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2018, 10:10:15 pm »
Quote from: DB on March 30, 2018, 10:07:43 pm
What... Government geniuses bought crap oil, probably via crony connections getting top dollar? What a surprise...

Maybe so, but I think they might have put good crude oil down a bad hole. 
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Online DB

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2018, 10:34:13 pm »
Quote from: IsailedawayfromFR on March 30, 2018, 10:09:20 pm
Not likely.  More likely it was contaminated by natural minerals which occur with salt domes.

Oh, so government geniuses bought perfectly good oil and contaminated it...
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Offline the_doc

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2018, 11:15:59 pm »
Quote from: DB on March 30, 2018, 10:34:13 pm
Oh, so government geniuses bought perfectly good oil and contaminated it...

I assume that the Corps of Engineers would have "built" (or contracted to others) the storage facility, and I'll bet that they used a consulting firm for the design effort. 

Maybe they got bad geotechnical data on the sulfur distribution below ground.  Anyway, a lot of opportunities to screw up.

Then again, maybe the gummint just bought bad oil, like you originally suggested! 
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2018, 02:33:01 pm »
Quote from: the_doc on March 30, 2018, 11:15:59 pm
I assume that the Corps of Engineers would have "built" (or contracted to others) the storage facility, and I'll bet that they used a consulting firm for the design effort. 

Maybe they got bad geotechnical data on the sulfur distribution below ground.  Anyway, a lot of opportunities to screw up.

Then again, maybe the gummint just bought bad oil, like you originally suggested!
Am not sure the Corps had anything to do with the construction of the caverns as it is involved more in civil engineering projects.

The domes are basically salt domes found along the Gulf Coast that have had fresh water pumped into them to dissolve the salt and create large chambers.

A detailed example of one of these was found in the accompanying article.
Features of West Hackberry SPR
Caverns and Internal Structure
Of the Salt Dome
http://prod.sandia.gov/techlib/access-control.cgi/2006/065409.pdf
« Last Edit: March 31, 2018, 10:20:31 pm by IsailedawayfromFR »
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Offline thackney

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #10 on: April 02, 2018, 01:43:14 pm »
Quote from: IsailedawayfromFR on March 30, 2018, 09:43:23 pm
Public records request show customer dissatisfaction with Energy Department.
Most of the oil is stored in salt domes, which characteristically also contains H2S and sulfur, among other contaminants.

What?  I work in a massive Salt Dome storage for hydrocarbons.  H2S is not something we pick up storing in the dome.
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Offline thackney

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #11 on: April 02, 2018, 01:44:59 pm »
Quote from: the_doc on March 30, 2018, 10:05:18 pm
Yeah, this is a problem, but I think we have known about it for years. I believe that the SPR uses some salt domes near Houston that have a lot of sulfur and likely a lot of H2S.  By the way,@IsailedawayfromFR, do you know anything about the salt domes that store ethylene east of Houston?  (H2S is probably the least of their worries, but still....)

I work in Mont Belvieu at one of the storage and processing facilities.  What questions do you have?
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Offline thackney

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Re: The US Sold Contaminated Crude Oil From Its Strategic Reserve—Report
« Reply #12 on: April 02, 2018, 01:46:57 pm »
Quote from: the_doc on March 30, 2018, 10:10:15 pm
Maybe so, but I think they might have put good crude oil down a bad hole.

Most of the oil in the SPR was sour (high sulfur percentage) when it was first purchased for storage.  H2S is common from such oil.

Crude Oil Storage by Site  (as of February 28, 2018)

Bryan Mound - holds 237.4 MMB in 20 caverns - 70.1 MMB sweet and 167.5 MMB sour.
Big Hill - holds 155.4 MMB in 14 caverns - 65.8 MMB sweet and 89.6 MMB sour.
West Hackberry - holds 200.6 MMB in 22 caverns - 104.4 MMB sweet and 96.1 MMB sour.
Bayou Choctaw - holds 71.8 MMB in 6 caverns - 18.9 MMB sweet and 51.8 MMB sour.

https://www.energy.gov/fe/services/petroleum-reserves/strategic-petroleum-reserve/spr-quick-facts-and-faqs
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