Did quake trigger fire? Questions and answers
Not many people had heard of the NuStar Energy facility in Crockett. It is not a refinery, but a storage site for fuel and ethanol. How does the fire affect Bay Area residents? Will the price of gasoline go up as a result of the fire?
Fuel tanks caught on fire just before 2 p.m. Tuesday following an explosion at a tank farm at a NuStar facility at 90 San Pablo Avenue in Crockett. Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokesman Steve Hill said the tanks were holding a combined 250,000 gallons of ethanol when they erupted in flames and one collapsed.
What is the NuStar facility?
The site is an energy storage facility run by San Antonio company NuStar Energy. It is not a refinery, as early reports suggested. Fuel is sent through pipelines from neighboring refineries to storage facilities like this one and then trucked to gas stations, according to Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
How much fuel does it hold?
The site has 24 tanks with a capacity for 3.04 million barrels that contain gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and ethanol to serve ship, barge, pipeline, truck, and rail customers, according to the company’s website. Gasoline at the facility is blended with 10% ethanol to California specifications, DeHaan said.
How does it affect you?
Residents in Rodeo and Crockett were told to shelter in place by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office.
“Go inside, and close all windows and doors. Turn off all heaters, air conditioners, and fans,” the county notice said. “Unless you are using your fireplace, close your fireplace dampers and vents. Cover any cracks around doors or windows with tape or damp towels. Stay off the phone unless you need to report a life-threatening emergency at your location. Remain sheltered indoors until you receive further official instructions. Stay off the phones and do not call 911 unless you have a life threatening emergency.”
Travelers had to find alternate routes since I-80 was shut down in both directions, eastbound and westbound, from Highway 4 in Hercules to I-780 in Vallejo. Alternate routes are Highway 4 eastbound to 680/ Benicia Bridge, Highway 4 eastbound to SR-160 in Antioch, or I-580 into Tracy. I-80 was expected to stay closed until at least midnight, but officials hadn’t guaranteed it would open by the morning commute.
Consumers will most likely not see an impact on gas prices since the facility stores but does not produce fuel, DeHaan said. Disruptions in production at refineries can drive up prices at the pump.
Was the incident connected to the earthquake?
County officials said it was unlikely that Monday night’s 4.5-magnitude earthquake near Pleasant Hill — which triggered flaring at two Martinez refineries — contributed to the NuStar explosion, but the cause is still under investigation.
DeHaan said the Martinez flaring didn’t affect wholesale gas prices in California, and he didn’t expect Tuesday’s fire to do so either. The only issue would be if the NuStar facility runs out of ethanol, he said.
“There could be a temporary difficulty supplying,” DeHaan said.
Gas prices soared over $4 this month in part because of scheduled and unplanned maintenance at some California refineries, but they have flattened out and declined slightly.
“It would take a large disruption for prices to reverse their recent decline,” DeHaan said. “It looks like things are slowly returning to normal and an earthquake and fire won’t put much of a dent or derail the upcoming relief that motorists are going to see at the pump.”