Take this from someone in the field, there's also a shortage of metal gas cylinders since so many of them are being made or repurposed for medical uses. The price of raw oxygen has shot up.
However, the price of other refinery chemicals has plummeted. Carbon dioxide and methane are at some of the lowest prices I've ever seen. It's made for a weird moment where refineries are having lopsided profit margins throughout their departments and that's causing frequent supply chain problems. That seems to be generating a more fluid workforce than before, people hopping job to job, but that could be wider stuff going on. There's also simply fewer people working in refineries.
Whatever the case, I think it's causing industrial accidents to be more frequent, or maybe I'm getting paranoid and the accidents just seem more visible now. There was a shelter-in-place order in the Houston area last week due to a sulfur leak. There was an acetic acid leak last month at the Lyondell plant that killed two people. The Marathon refinery had a hydrofluoric acid leak back in May. Weird moment where productive output looks good on paper, but it's only in certain areas and the supply chain is frequently strained.
Leaks are a routine part of life if you live near chemical facilities ("the smell of money"). They have various strategies to avoid it, but it takes investment and since everyone slashed spending during Covid (and a lot of companies before that too), it's decaying.
An increase in accidents wouldn't surprise me given the amount of job-hopping - lots of new people equals lots of mistakes. Plus I'm sure a lot of them are chasing overtime like mad which makes things worse.
Take this from someone in the field, there's also a shortage of metal gas cylinders since so many of them are being made or repurposed for medical uses. The price of raw oxygen has shot up.
However, the price of other refinery chemicals has plummeted. Carbon dioxide and methane are at some of the lowest prices I've ever seen. It's made for a weird moment where refineries are having lopsided profit margins throughout their departments and that's causing frequent supply chain problems. That seems to be generating a more fluid workforce than before, people hopping job to job, but that could be wider stuff going on. There's also simply fewer people working in refineries.
Whatever the case, I think it's causing industrial accidents to be more frequent, or maybe I'm getting paranoid and the accidents just seem more visible now. There was a shelter-in-place order in the Houston area last week due to a sulfur leak. There was an acetic acid leak last month at the Lyondell plant that killed two people. The Marathon refinery had a hydrofluoric acid leak back in May. Weird moment where productive output looks good on paper, but it's only in certain areas and the supply chain is frequently strained.
it's been a bear market since 1750
yet so much room for growth
Leaks are a routine part of life if you live near chemical facilities ("the smell of money"). They have various strategies to avoid it, but it takes investment and since everyone slashed spending during Covid (and a lot of companies before that too), it's decaying.
An increase in accidents wouldn't surprise me given the amount of job-hopping - lots of new people equals lots of mistakes. Plus I'm sure a lot of them are chasing overtime like mad which makes things worse.