Seconds From Disaster - S03E16 - Texas Oil Explosion

On March 23, 2005, a fire and explosion occurred at BP's Texas City Refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers and injuring more than 170 others. BP was charged with criminal violations of federal environmental laws, and has been subject to lawsuits from the victim's families. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration slapped BP with a then-record fine for hundreds of safety violations, and subsequently imposed an even larger fine after claiming that BP had failed to implement safety improvements following the disaster.

The Texas City Refinery is the second-largest oil refinery in the state,[citation needed] and the third-largest in the United States. BP acquired the Texas City refinery as part of its merger with Amoco in 1998. It had an input capacity of 437,000 barrels per day (18,354,000 gallons or 69,477,448 litres) as of January 1, 2005.

The explosion occurred in an isomerization unit at the site, resulting in the deaths and injuries. According to a report issued after the accident, actions taken or not taken led to overfilling the raffinate splitter with liquid, overheating of the liquid, and the subsequent overpressurization and pressure relief. Hydrocarbon flow to the blowdown drum and stack overwhelmed it, resulting in liquids carrying over out of the top of the stack, flowing down the stack, accumulating on the ground, and causing a vapor cloud, which was ignited by a contractor's pickup truck as the engine was left running. The report identified numerous failings in equipment, risk management, staff management, working culture at the site, maintenance and inspection, and general health and safety assessments.

In 2011 BP announced that it was selling the refinery.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• seconds from disaster
• BP
• texas city

[all1357]

A WEEK without accidents?? And they get LUNCH?? WTF???!

[betatalk357]

@Texan2525 You mean the Bhopal Gas Disaster. FYI, 20 YEARS LATER, the contamination still hasn't been cleaned up by Union Carbide, who owned the factory, nor by Dow Chemical, who bought Union Carbide. The contamination is still poisoning the wildlife, the people, and crops. Many people are getting various cancers and many Indians don't want to start a family with people who live near Bhopal, because they're afraid they and their children will get cancer.

[taags]

@get1modernwarfare2 LOL :D

[mattmopar440]

British Petroleum is one of the worst offenders when it comes to safety there plants and platforms are constantly in violations

[SASSOSS]

الزبـــده في الدقيقـــه 37:25 لان الفيلــم طويــل ومايحتــاج نتابــع التحقيقــات اللــي فـي البدايــه

[hkostal]

Advertising!

Thumbs down.

[romketje11]

terribly sorry for what those people

[anonamoustiger]

its all about the money (greed) how much can i get screw the people are in the billions and can replace our workforce easy, so what if few of them die .... boo hoo send them a few hundred and move on making thousands

[Kohdok]

@Kohdok The USCSB's whole video is basically a 55-minute tirade saying: "BP is run by a bunch of profiteering idiots who don't care about the safety of their workers or the surrounding environment."

[Kohdok]

If you think THIS is scathing, wait until you see the official government report... watch?v=XuJtdQOU_Z4

[robelicit]

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET JUSTICE folks? DO we need to call our US MILITARY to go get the $CUM who control BP & just put them in a military tribunal? WHY NOT?? THEY HAVE KILLED more Americans than than ANY terror enemy since 9-11..!!!