March 8,2026 — WTI Crude Hits $110. THANKS TRUMP

[OlDawg]

1 hour ago, baddog said:

Great saying. I believe the gouging comes from the individual outlets. On average, they get resupplied 2-3 times a week, so there’s no doubt they received some deliveries of the cheaper priced gas, but their prices didn’t reflect it. Even though it may sound greedy when quoting profits, most people don’t realize how much our entire existence depends on petroleum products. Many moons ago, I worked on a unit that produced cyclohexene, which was then combined with hydrogen to produce cyclohexane. It is then mixed with other chemicals to produce nylon, which is a primary synthetic fiber to make carpet. That blew my mind when those plant workers taught me that. I learned a lot in the plants. Still much more to it than I could learn.

Maybe sometime we can discuss cat crackers and vacuum towers. I have limited but interesting knowledge. I try to learn something every day, even at my age.

Never too old to learn. I do at least 2 or 3 Duolingo Spanish lessons a day to try to keep my mind working.

You’ll find my name on drawings from cogen units, to glass/ultra-pure distillation towers, to crackers, furnaces, kilns, desalters, and beyond. You would be hard-pressed to find a drawing in many of the units at the old Shell DP or Geismar, LA that didn’t have my name on them in one place or another. Heck, you’ll even find my name on loading docks from Dow Freeport to Pequiven in Columbia.

Haven’t had the pleasure of working in a cyclohexane unit. But, I have redesigned and upgraded an old Nylon unit at DuPont. Been around plenty of benzene and phosgene. Used to laugh when I was contracted to Bayer Cedar Bayou. We said the hourly beep on my watch was the daily phosgene release alert. That, and Shell DP were the most dangerous facilities I’ve ever stepped foot in—and I’ve been in more than a few in my day.

My operations days were in a plant that made up to 70+% hydrogen peroxide, which was the fuel that went into the solid rocket boosters for the shuttles. We used to say all NASA had to do was throw in the rusty nail for the decomp, and hang on for the ride. If the hydrogen reactor blew, it was calculated it would take out a good chunk of Deer Park, La Porte, and Channelview. We had Air Products and Air Liquide on a direct pipeline for N2 to our reactor for purging, and could empty both of their capacities in 30 seconds.

[mat]

7 hours ago, OlDawg said:

Never too old to learn. I do at least 2 or 3 Duolingo Spanish lessons a day to try to keep my mind working.

You’ll find my name on drawings from cogen units, to glass/ultra-pure distillation towers, to crackers, furnaces, kilns, desalters, and beyond. You would be hard-pressed to find a drawing in many of the units at the old Shell DP or Geismar, LA that didn’t have my name on them in one place or another. Heck, you’ll even find my name on loading docks from Dow Freeport to Pequiven in Columbia.

Haven’t had the pleasure of working in a cyclohexane unit. But, I have redesigned and upgraded an old Nylon unit at DuPont. Been around plenty of benzene and phosgene. Used to laugh when I was contracted to Bayer Cedar Bayou. We said the hourly beep on my watch was the daily phosgene release alert. That, and Shell DP were the most dangerous facilities I’ve ever stepped foot in—and I’ve been in more than a few in my day.

My operations days were in a plant that made up to 70+% hydrogen peroxide, which was the fuel that went into the solid rocket boosters for the shuttles. We used to say all NASA had to do was throw in the rusty nail for the decomp, and hang on for the ride. If the hydrogen reactor blew, it was calculated it would take out a good chunk of Deer Park, La Porte, and Channelview. We had Air Products and Air Liquide on a direct pipeline for N2 to our reactor for purging, and could empty both of their capacities in 30 seconds.

Impressive. So you hang around this site just keep your intellect dumbed down and grounded?🙂

[OlDawg]

1 hour ago, mat said:

Impressive. So you hang around this site just keep your intellect dumbed down and grounded?🙂

😅🤣

No. I love high school football, am proud of the local town & school, enjoy the banter with some folks I’ve known for many years, and my better 1/2 is unable to communicate now with her condition. So, posting with y’all keeps me kind of connected as I don’t use other social media.

[AggiesAreWe]

1 hour ago, OlDawg said:

😅🤣

No. I love high school football, am proud of the local town & school, enjoy the banter with some folks I’ve known for many years, and my better 1/2 is unable to communicate now with her condition. So, posting with y’all keeps me kind of connected as I don’t use other social media.

The site could use a few more members like you.

Thanks for your contribution to the site.

[baddog]

10 hours ago, OlDawg said:

Never too old to learn. I do at least 2 or 3 Duolingo Spanish lessons a day to try to keep my mind working.

You’ll find my name on drawings from cogen units, to glass/ultra-pure distillation towers, to crackers, furnaces, kilns, desalters, and beyond. You would be hard-pressed to find a drawing in many of the units at the old Shell DP or Geismar, LA that didn’t have my name on them in one place or another. Heck, you’ll even find my name on loading docks from Dow Freeport to Pequiven in Columbia.

Haven’t had the pleasure of working in a cyclohexane unit. But, I have redesigned and upgraded an old Nylon unit at DuPont. Been around plenty of benzene and phosgene. Used to laugh when I was contracted to Bayer Cedar Bayou. We said the hourly beep on my watch was the daily phosgene release alert. That, and Shell DP were the most dangerous facilities I’ve ever stepped foot in—and I’ve been in more than a few in my day.

My operations days were in a plant that made up to 70+% hydrogen peroxide, which was the fuel that went into the solid rocket boosters for the shuttles. We used to say all NASA had to do was throw in the rusty nail for the decomp, and hang on for the ride. If the hydrogen reactor blew, it was calculated it would take out a good chunk of Deer Park, La Porte, and Channelview. We had Air Products and Air Liquide on a direct pipeline for N2 to our reactor for purging, and could empty both of their capacities in 30 seconds.

My knowledge is very limited to being a sub-contracting scaffold builder who also did civil duties. I picked up what I could as I went along because it was interesting to me. I couldn’t build a scaffold inside a vacuum tower with bubble cap trays without asking about the process. First thing is that they use a vacuum because it takes less heat. It’s been decades since I worked in the plants, so I may be a bit rusty with memory and might make some mistakes. 
I started at the Texaco plant in Port Arthur. Worked their #3 Cat unit on a shutdown, then transferred to their chemical side and worked maintenance for years. The cyclohexane unit was very small but it was considered a money maker. I formed up several pump containment slabs and some required Chockfast Red, a self leveling acid resistant material that hardened like steel. We did anything maintenance required. There is so much more that I could talk all day, but most people couldn’t care less. It brings back some great memories.