Massive explosion at CNRL Horizon Upgrader

[burn_this_city]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/...097/story.html

Apparently the fire and explosion happened in the coker unit. 4 injured, one severely. CNRL doesnt have a very good safety record in the last few years.

[dissentowner]

That is what happens when you make illegal drugs.

[Frequitude]

Oh no, on first read this doesn't sound good. Coke drums don't operate under high pressure, so I wonder what happened. They're also the front end of the process so if the coker area is seriously damaged this could be a lonnnng outage.

[Frequitude]

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Oh no, on first read this doesn't sound good. Coke drums don't operate under high pressure, so I wonder what happened. They're also the front end of the process so if the coker area is seriously damaged this could be a lonnnng outage.

I was thinking upwards of a year. If any long lead equipment is damaged it could take a year just to get a replacement fabricated.

[Frequitude]

Yep. You don't just weld a coke drum back together. Those things take a lonnnnng time to procure and build.

I don't know lots about CNRL's process, but there aren't a lot of things in the coker area that could "massively explode". The frac maybe? Does that operate under pressure?

I hear lots of rumours of CNRL (edit: I mean Horizon) being pretty cheap and poorly constructed. Any idea?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Yep. You don't just weld a coke drum back together. Those things take a lonnnnng time to procure and build.

I don't know lots about CNRL's process, but there aren't a lot of things in the coker area that could "massively explode". The frac maybe? Does that operate under pressure?

I hear lots of rumours of CNRL being pretty cheap and poorly constructed. Any idea?

I really dont know a lot about upgrading, just the basic process. I'm a SAGD schlub.

CNRL has now had 3 fatalities on that site. I've heard people in the industry say they cut corners on safety compared to other oil companies.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Yep. You don't just weld a coke drum back together. Those things take a lonnnnng time to procure and build.

I don't know lots about CNRL's process, but there aren't a lot of things in the coker area that could "massively explode". The frac maybe? Does that operate under pressure?

I hear lots of rumours of CNRL (edit: I mean Horizon) being pretty cheap and poorly constructed. Any idea?

I believe Horizon's pretty well built (technologies are miles above the older mining ops (syncrude)). Can't really comment on the safety bit, but if its the coker I can see the whole ops being down for a decent chunk of time. There goes 100k boe/day in a flash

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Horizon's pretty well built (technologies are miles above the older mining ops (syncrude)). Can't really comment on the safety bit, but if its the coker I can see the whole ops being down for a decent chunk of time. There goes 100k boe/day in a flash

$5000/second in revenue.

[carom]

After I herd about this on the radio this afternoon I messaged my buddy that is working at the horizon site. At 5:30 he didnt know anything had happend!