I work for a factory rep company, we sell industrial parts to multiple different markets. Being based in TX, obviously the Oil & Gas sector is a big part of our customer base. So I have a little bit of experience with the industry but I'm definitely no technical expert (I'm an office guy - IT, accounting, reporting, etc). I'd love to have someone with a bit more mechanical knowledge chime in.
I'm well aware much of the O&G industry is integrated with computer systems like any other, but the idea that there are no fail-safes for opening valves or starting pumps in an emergency situation seems completely ridiculous to me.
But it might be similar to what happened during the Texas freeze...
As I understand it, back in the day Natural Gas processing plants used old school gas-powered manual ('hand crank') ignition switches on their machinery/pumps. But after 2008, under the reign of Renegade Hussein, one of the 'green policies' he imposed was to replace them all with electronic ignition switches.
For us it was a minor boom I'm told (I wasn't working here at the time), because we happened to sell those products the industry needed to meet the regulation, but it ultimately set Texas up for disaster years later. When the Big Freeze came through, and power went out, the mid-stream natural gas companies were unable to get pumping again without the presence of electricity. In the past, they might have been able to start with gas and hand-cranking and keep working under emergency conditions, which would ultimately have restored power to the state sooner.
In other words, Obama's little 'electronic ignition switch requirements' were a minor chink in the power chain with major repercussions. Sure, it minorly boosted sales for a few companies including my own - and in general electrical switches are easier to use than manual cranks - but it removed an important fail-safe during a power outage.
Now that I'm looking back on it, it appears that there was more to Obama's Green Initiative than payouts, money-laundering, and ineffective regulations, at least in this particular case. It seems his environmental regulations were intentionally implemented to take away some protections for our power grid. Efforts to make us weaker.
This is just one example of how the Deep State has "industrially sabotaged" us for future failures. We happened to be talking about it at work yesterday, so I thought I would share with anons...
But certainly, a Pipeline being completely incapacitated by a computer hack?
...that seems like a similar situation to me. In my mind, such a thing shouldn't even be mechanically possible. Or at the very least there should be fail-safes to manually get the system running again.
It makes me wonder what other ways have we been set up for failure. These type of pre-imbedded weaknesses in the supply chain that lead to power outages, fuel shortages, and food shortages, etc... need to be identified and fixed.
The flow of gas is monitored by computers.
You'd think Y2K would have taught people some lessons about having computers control too much. But no. It's gotten much worse.
We'll probably have problems in 2038, even though we've had years to solve that one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem
I am glad someone brought up 2038.
I don't think 2038 has been fixed. I still see Y2K problems occasionally. There are still some incorrectly coded websites that have 19121 as the current year.
The business world needs to go ahead and spend the money to fix things now while there's plenty of time. I know how rushed I was back in 1999 rewriting software that was going to fail completely on 1-1-2000 and put a company out of business.
not a pipeline or petroleum worker but have basic understanding of how the system functions. Petroleum production/transport systems have little to no overflow capacity, nowhere for extra to go, and all stages are interconnected and interdependent on one another.
shut down in one point of the system causes cascade of shutdowns down the line as system runs out of product to process, systems that can idle, are prohibitively expensive to idle. Also as system backs up overflow must be burnt off, and destroyed as overflow occurs, or systems holding/processing it must shut down to stop production, restart takes time, many interconnected parts and systems. not as simple as flipping a switch or opening a valve.
as systems shut down, they go cold, heat is needed in some, power reserves needed in others. systems go cold when shut down, and must be reprimed before restart is possible, and if enough is shut down simultaneously, entire system must be shut down and restarted from the start to the end.
think dominos, knock a domino down part way along, knocks its way down the line, now imagine dominos it doesnt knock down become unstable as they sit idle, eventually they fall too. Dominos must then be reset from start to finish, so no gaps are left in system. Gaps cause additional cascading shutdowns, and cycle repeats all over again.
correct, oil doesn't disappear, but because petroleum industry has little to no overflow capacity, excess produced that cannot be moved down the line is often burned off, it doesn't disappear, it just goes to waste.
I worked for a company that built automation for valves on an industrial scale. We worked under the Emerson umbrella. We sold Delta V systems and even maintain sites and helped in plant maintenance. I specifically worked in our IT department, but talking to our engineers that built the systems that handle this... it's bullshit. These systems are not connected to the internet at all. While on site with the control system, all computers and cell phones are turned off and over to the plant manager. Only computers allowed on site are provided by the plant's IT team, so during maintenance downtime at plants, they are in charge. The Delta V systems are built offsite and brought in. You would actually be amazed on how many of these valves and systems are still mechanical without computer interaction. So long story short, this has to be an attack on logistics or accounting.
I have been an industrial operator for over thirty years. I have worked in oil and gas, mostly gas fractionation and pipelines in and out of those plants. This stuff is really complicated and hard to explain here in writing. Here is the deal. The whole system is based on electrical power. Yes there are some units that still use the produced gas as fuel to run engines, but the overall control, speeds, flows, pressures, are controlled by computer inputs. The "grid" is yuuge and all interconnected. If any point in a pipeline sees an over pressure it automatically shuts down and blocks in valves, These valves cannot be reopened until it is deemed to be safe to do so. Yes there is an over all "surplus" of product moving ,under, pressure, at any given time. But if the system is down for any reason this "surplus" does not last very long. Yes there are still manual valves in some places, mostly used in emergencies to safely block in a pipeline that is in trouble, for instance if a pipe has ruptured or exploded. The point is that the system is so big now, that running all of it manually is next to impossible. Now if for some reason, someone from outside the system gains access. And they are able to control the system, think about the damage that can be done by someone just randomly opening and closing valves, adjusting temperatures and pressures. Look into some industrial accidents that have happened when "expert" operators have been in control of something. So If this was real, and someone did gain access, the company would shut down the system just to be sure that they are in total control. They would have to completely verify that someone from outside is still outside. The liability alone would bankrupt them. Does that make any sense?
Oh and yes, I have lost sleep thinking about how close we are to complete breakdown of our energy systems and therefor all industrial based systems in our society. Seems like Trump told us all to get our preps in order did he not?