Tough day for the O&G industry

[l/l/rX]

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/edmonton/oilsands-plant-explosion-near-fort-mcmurray-leaves-1-dead-another-critical-1.3406867

http://kfor.com/2016/01/14/fracking-fire-damage-totals-almost-50-million/

[eglove]

Wow yikes!

[l/l/rX]

http://energeticcity.ca/article/news/2016/01/15/contiental-pipeline-and-facility-to-shutdown

[ExtraSlow]

moose FM = Legit for reals.

[finboy]

When doing "more with less" goes wrong

[flipstah]

That's the worst thing a good company wants; penny pinching without a care of worker safety.

Nobody makes money.

[90_Shelby]

I know that there are a few frac guys on Beyond and I'd be curious to hear a comment on the chemicals in the Chem Van that, "will explode when mixed together or mix with water." That statement by the firefighter doesn't sound correct but I could be wrong. I can't think of anything in a slickwater frac or hydrocarbon (frac oil) frac that would cause that.

Churchill, any comments?

[FraserB]

Originally posted by flipstah
That's the worst thing a good company wants; penny pinching without a care of worker safety.

Nobody makes money.

Does this comment have to do with the Long Lake article? If it does, you're really grasping at straws at this point since the cause is completely unknown.

[theken]

I believe he was suggesting that if the chemicals were on fire water would add fuel to the fire so to speak. But I don't know of any Chems that are that volatile in the Chem van. I would be more concerned with the biocide breaking containment than anything ( if it was used )

[GT.....O?]

Originally posted by 90_Shelby
I know that there are a few frac guys on Beyond and I'd be curious to hear a comment on the chemicals in the Chem Van that, "will explode when mixed together or mix with water." That statement by the firefighter doesn't sound correct but I could be wrong. I can't think of anything in a slickwater frac or hydrocarbon (frac oil) frac that would cause that.

Churchill, any comments?


I found that statement pretty bizarre, I mean yeah i wouldnt want that crap on fire, but i dont think it would have exploded. The toxic gases that might have come off might be a different story, but the chemicals themselves wouldnt explode.

I also dont think that frac is hydrocarbon based, there are way too many pumpers. The highest rate hydrocarbon fracs i have seen in canada were like 6-9 m3/min. You should at be able to do at least 1 m3/min per pump even at high pressure. There was almost 20 pump trucks there... I'd say it was a slickwater job since you wouldnt typically need that kind of rate with a hydrocarbon job. So chemicals would likely be Friction reducer, some sort of clay control (KCl water possibly) , Non-emulsifier/surfactant and biocide (probably the worst)

[spike98]

Originally posted by FraserB


Does this comment have to do with the Long Lake article? If it does, you're really grasping at straws at this point since the cause is completely unknown.

The poster may or may not have inside information, but i can tell you this is true.

[M.alex]

Originally posted by spike98


The poster may or may not have inside information, but i can tell you this is true.

and I can confirm this statement is also true because internets.

[FraserB]

Originally posted by spike98


The poster may or may not have inside information, but i can tell you this is true.

So penny pinching is going to be direct casue identified in the coker/hydrocracker explosion?

[24gtis2]

Looks like the damage is around the compressor building. Just speculating but could've been a number of factors including faulty shaft, improper isolation, leaky valves etc. Good thing the explosion was not from the reactor itself or otherwise it would've been a lot more catastrophic. Rip to the maintenance guy

[Darkane]

In my opinion I would say it was a hydrogen compressor being worked on. It blew the building up.

18,000kpa mistake.

[spike98]

Originally posted by FraserB


So penny pinching is going to be direct casue identified in the coker/hydrocracker explosion?

Indirectly, yes.

[Darkane]

Originally posted by spike98


Indirectly, yes.

Doubt it. Read what I wrote.

In my opinion it was human error. In my opinion... Thanks for the lessons rage.

[schurchill39]

Originally posted by 90_Shelby
I know that there are a few frac guys on Beyond and I'd be curious to hear a comment on the chemicals in the Chem Van that, "will explode when mixed together or mix with water." That statement by the firefighter doesn't sound correct but I could be wrong. I can't think of anything in a slickwater frac or hydrocarbon (frac oil) frac that would cause that.

Churchill, any comments?

Originally posted by theken
I believe he was suggesting that if the chemicals were on fire water would add fuel to the fire so to speak. But I don't know of any Chems that are that volatile in the Chem van. I would be more concerned with the biocide breaking containment than anything ( if it was used )

Originally posted by GT.....O?
I found that statement pretty bizarre, I mean yeah i wouldnt want that crap on fire, but i dont think it would have exploded. The toxic gases that might have come off might be a different story, but the chemicals themselves wouldnt explode.

I also dont think that frac is hydrocarbon based, there are way too many pumpers. The highest rate hydrocarbon fracs i have seen in canada were like 6-9 m3/min. You should at be able to do at least 1 m3/min per pump even at high pressure. There was almost 20 pump trucks there... I'd say it was a slickwater job since you wouldnt typically need that kind of rate with a hydrocarbon job. So chemicals would likely be Friction reducer, some sort of clay control (KCl water possibly) , Non-emulsifier/surfactant and biocide (probably the worst)

I just saw these comments and figured I would chime in as the news article was definitely sensationalized. Especially because all of the chemistry out there is meant to be mixed with water and with eachother.

The only thing that you would find on a frac that would react like that would be bags of oxidizer used as a breaker for the polyacrylamides (friction reducers) or the polymers (the gel). That being said they would all be sealed in bags or buckets, and when you already have a whole fleet on fire you'd just be adding fire to... fire. Also, 'mericans are usually to cheap to run a breaker on their slick waters anyways so I doubt anything would be out there that would explode. My biggest concerns would be all the diesel tanks out there. Each pump truck when full has around 1600L of diesel in them (including the tractor's tanks).

The fact that there are so many trucks and its in OKLA tells me that its a slick water job. Knowing what they run in the states I would hazard to guess that its a friction reducer and bleach. Only the super big players bother running biocide, everyone else spikes their water tanks with Javex by the pallet full from Walmart (if they even care about bacteria to begin with).

Either way everyone made it out safely and it was a loss of equipment which means the company gets paid out and there is 50,000 less horsepower out there.