Hi Energy Twitter: today’s lesson is on the gas oil separation plant (GOSP). (Thread) All Saudi crude oil production goes from the well head (oil production well) through a gathering system and is then processed in the GOSP. Learn this acronym. It’s going to be important
The stream of crude oil that comes out of wells in Saudi Arabia is mixed with gaseous hydrocarbons like methane, butane and propane, liquid condensates. crude oil, water, and contaminants such as salts, sulfur, and sand. It cannot be refined into gasoline as is. ((Thread)
GOSP units take the raw crude oil mix and remove impurities and separate the mix into distinct commodities mainly crude oil but also condensates, NGLs, and natural gas. (Thread)
GOSPs require other kinds of units for inputs such as fuel, water, and air. Abqaiq complex had several GOSPs and the systems to support them. (Thread)
Iran (presumably) systematically attacked Saudi Arabia’s GOSP systems in multiple locations. That took skill, precision, and planning. (Thread)
No Saudi wellhead crude oil production can be processed for export without operational GOSPs. (Thread)
Pipelines can be repaired very quickly and lost throughout made up via use of DRAs. Backup power can be established quickly with mobile generators. GOSPs are a different story. Attack hit a jugular of Saudi crude oil system. Big escalation (Thread)
Iran is no longer “too clever by a half” (see old blog). It has initiated direct war tactic that would be normally be withheld for an all out battle. They desired to demonstrate devastating capabilities (Thread) cfr.org/blog/iran-stra…
Talk that Iran would preemptively demonstrate its devastating force to get to negotiations at sidelines of UN is a ridiculous analysis. Better question: did Iran see Saudi Arabia as an existential threat and what additional steps is it prepared to take? (Thread)
Saudi-Iran proxy war attacks on oil facilities goes back two years (Thread) cfr.org/blog/oil-and-i…
Full Mideast region in a dangerous state. This is not just about how many days to restore a crude oil production stream.
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@CostaSamaras@emilygrubert@RichardMeyerDC “Freeze off” defined: well shutdowns Eg ala Texas DCP Midstream LP and Targa Resources Corp. shutdown so posting about frozen wind turbine when 1 million b/d of Permian crude shut in on top of frozen nat gas facilities is idiotic 1/
@ira_joseph@RichardMeyerDC My career fantasy: I wake up one morning and not see misinformation from oil and gas industry in my twitter feed and 100% renewables advocates are accurately explaining role hydro flexing currently plays in successful deployments 2/
@tedcruz issued statement against Paris climate agreement. Since it is time to reinvigorate knowledge here is link to NBER paper on jobs and environment. Paper considers how in new economy workers essentially reallocated to new opportunities but...1/ nber.org/papers/w26093
But Hafstead NBER research also shows stickiness of job loss in select communities most affected by energy transition in short run. this is one area where stimulus should target speeding opportunity (as opposed to losing out on new economy development ) 2/ nber.org/papers/w26093
Put another way, when @APIenergy says they will block Biden plan for EV charging stations at the same time ExxonMobil lays off 14,000 employees, America experiences DOUBLE job losses. Oil sector jobs lost because other countries are transitioning climate policy (thread)