another accident to add to the list

[bikerfish]

hopefully the workers will recover ok.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_724408.html

 

[osprey]

Chesapeake Energy..........based in Oklahoma? That's kinda like "The Blue Water Fly Shop" based in Phoenix Arizona. Personal Injury attorneys will be perched in the trees surrounding drilling rigs waiting for the next explosion.

 

[wildtrout2]

osprey wrote:
Chesapeake Energy..........based in Oklahoma? That's kinda like "The Blue Water Fly Shop" based in Phoenix Arizona.

Yea, how about it? Last year I was using the Best Western in Lock Haven as my "base camp" for fishing the area. Many of the gas well workers also stay here while they're working in the area. Almost ALL of the license plates were from out of state!

 

[jeff]

Hope the workers recover. I am wondering though how the holding tanks would burn since it is just frac water in them. Call me stupid but....... It seems like something that could burn for hours should probably not be treated and dumped back into our waters. I also find it quite comical that the newspaper reported that there was no environmental risks to this expolsion. I wonder who told them that! Couldn't be the drilling company could it?? :-o

 

[pcray1231]

I am wondering though how the holding tanks would burn since it is just frac water in them.

I'm confused too. Frac water isn't flammable. Gas condensate is, though thats usually stored in separate tanks, i.e. the ones that stay there permanently.

My understanding of it, is that they were nearing the end of collecting the frac water, i.e. the end of the flowback and the beginning of collecting condensate, and did not switch it over to the permanent, non-sparking condensate tanks before the concentration of gas got high enough to ignite. In a metal tank, all that'd be needed is a spark. Safety issue for sure!

 

[tomgamber]

pcray1231 wrote:

I am wondering though how the holding tanks would burn since it is just frac water in them.

I'm confused too. Frac water isn't flammable. Gas condensate is, though thats usually stored in separate tanks, i.e. the ones that stay there permanently.

My understanding of it, is that they were nearing the end of collecting the frac water, i.e. the end of the flowback and the beginning of collecting condensate, and did not switch it over to the permanent, non-sparking condensate tanks before the concentration of gas got high enough to ignite. In a metal tank, all that'd be needed is a spark. Safety issue for sure!

"...the fires apparently were sparked when what is known as “wet gas” or compounds that form natural gas condensate somehow ignited."

I think you answered your own confusion Pat.

 

[pcray1231]

Tom,

Yes, I got that part, and its pretty clear what exploded. But they referred to the tanks as frac tanks, not condensate tanks. Frac tanks are used to store frac water, which is non-flammable, and these are portable and removed when the drilling/fracking phase completes and the well is put into production. The condensate, or "wet gas" is supposed to go into separate condensate tanks, which will stay on site for as long as the well produces, and be collected periodically as fuel.

I'm guessing that there's some overlap here, not really sure though. i.e. gas and condensate begin immediately after fracking, while frac water is still flowing back. Lacking a way to separate it, they burn off the gas and wet gas while collecting the frac water. As the frac water flowback fades to nothing, at some point they switch the recovery over to the condensate tanks, so that gas and condensate can be collected and used as fuel. Thats all just a guess though, I'm merely trying to understand how wet gas got into the frac tanks to begin with....

 

[tomgamber]

I think the problem is that you are better informed than the reporter, Pat. He wouldn't know a frack tank from a army tank. I though you had it when you said they never made a destination switch when the fluid went from flow back to condensate. That's what I meant.