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Monday, April 25, 2022

"Where There Is This Much Smoke, There Has To Be A Fire!"

 We have all heard that saying: 'Where there is that much smoke, there has to be some fire." We have a fascinating story developing this morning out of Russia. Kremlin authorities have disclosed that a major fire has broken out at the Druzba Oil Depot in the Russian city of Bryansk.

   All sorts of wild conspiracy theories are floating around including:

1) A 20-person British Special Air Services team attacked the oil complex.

2) Ukrainian missiles struck the oil storage complex.

3) Ukrainian special operations forces attacked the plant.

    I was raised in Houston, Texas. It is a city surrounded by oil refineries and petrochemical plants. Fires and explosions happened from time to time. I do not remember an incident where actual sabotage was involved. Causes of such tragedies included:

1) Human errors by plant operators.

2) Maintenance procedures not being followed.

3) Safety systems wearing out and not being replaced.

4) Flukes of nature like a lightning strike.

    We will have to wait for the investigation that will follow before we draw any conclusions. If you're sitting in Europe right now, this is not good news for you. This complex is part of the oil pipeline that supplies oil and natural gas to European countries.

    Were this pipeline to be cut, Russian oil and natural gas shipments to Europe would stop. Who knows if the Nordstream 2 pipeline could be brought online to replace the loss of this source of oil and gas? Here is a fascinating link if you want to go in-depth:

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1600623/russia-news-druzhba-oil-pipeline-fire-ukraine-eu-energy-germany-austria-hungary

 

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