British Oil Installation continues to burn.

[NNadir]

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, England - Fears that one tank could contain highly volatile fuel forced firefighters to briefly halt their battle Monday against a blaze raging at an oil depot that has spewed smoke as far away as France and caused jitters on the global oil market.

Authorities said they believe the explosion Sunday at the Buncefield depot north of London was an accident, but will examine other possible causes, including terrorism.

The 150 firefighters fighting the blaze with torrents of chemical foam withdrew at 3 p.m. after extinguishing flames in 12 of the 20 tanks that were initially ablaze, said Chief Fire Officer Roy Wilsher. Five hours later, his office said firefighters had resumed work after determining that the fuel in the tank was not as volatile as had been feared.

The terminal stores 4.2 million gallons of fuel, and the fire has caused unease on the oil market and raised questions about safety at the nation's oil facilities.

"There is nothing to suggest that it is anything other than an accident, but we're keeping an open mind and when we get into the site we'll treat it as a ... scene which could be a crime. We'll be doing full forensics," said Chief Superintendent Jeremy Alford of Hertfordshire police. "We'd be remiss if we didn't."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051212/ap_on_re_eu/britain_explosion

Smoke from this 100,000 barrel oil fire is now wafting over France.

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Depressing statistic:

The 22 burning tanks at Buncefield, between them, contain(ed) about 1.8 million barrels of oil - about the same as Californian motorists use in one hour.



Of course, not all of that oil will burn, so it might be more like 30 minutes of freeway fun.



Have a nice day. :)

[Massacure]

2. California for an hour only?

The entire country uses 20 million barrels per a day, California uses 10% of that each hour? That doesn't seem right.

[Dead_Parrot]

3. It isn't, I'm being retarded.

I just checked back and found I'd mixed up gallons and barrels, so hope I never get a job at your local gas station. It's actually closer to two days worth. (or one day if you include aviation and other distillates).

Still a bit of a mess, though. :)