2 killed, 9 hurt in Texas oil field explosion

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

MENTONE — A buildup of pressure caused an explosion as workers were changing a wellhead Wednesday at a West Texas oil field, killing two of them and injuring nine others, a sheriff said.

Loving County Sheriff Billy Hopper said authorities received an emergency call before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday about the explosion some 60 miles southeast of Carlsbad, N.M.

The two workers who were killed died at the scene, he said. Their names have not been released. Hopper said he did not know the extent of the injuries for the nine who were hurt.

It was not clear Wednesday which company operates the oil field, he said.

Read more: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/04/30/2-killed-9-hurt-in-w-texas-oil-field-explosion/

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Mentone is in Loving County, the most sparsely populated county in Texas (pop. 95, est. 2013).

[Ilsa]

1. The Operator or Owner should provide a satellite phone.

There is Nothing out there. No cell service. What a horror, to be injured or killed out there.

But I bet Beck and Limbow won't mention this price of obtaining energy.

[Mr. Evil]

2. I wonder...

If anyone has ever seen a solar panel explode.

[DeSwiss]

3. Solar panels explode the myth that we're dependent upon oil.

- But the bang ain't been loud enough for many to notice.

[jmowreader]

4. Yes. Several people have, in fact.

Solar panel manufacturers use a chemical called silane (SiH4).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silane

Silane is Nasty Ass Shit (tm). It's flammable. Worse, it auto ignites upon contact with air. It's corrosive. A poison gas. And has caused several industrial accidents-with-loss of life.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/explosive-gas-silane-used-to-make-photovoltaics/

"Of all the toxic or reactive molecules that [solar] industry uses, silane has been involved in 10 fatalities in the last 20 years. All the others put together, it's been zero," says retired chemical engineer Eugene Ngai, president of a specialty gas safety consultancy and a silane expert. "Where I have a concern is in the photovoltaic industry…. PV could be in a light industry zone, it could be close to residential areas."

Crude oil and natural gas are hazardous materials but you've got to do something to cause them to ignite...and methane isn't even a poisonous gas - it's a "simple asphyxiant." (This means it kills you by displacing oxygen. Quite a few gases are simple asphyxiants.) Silane will go out of its way to fuck you up.

[They_Live]

5. "It was not clear Wednesday which company operates the oil field," he said.

I recently drove through this area, and there were conventional wells and fracking operations. Many of the workers that I saw were wearing Halliburton jumpsuits.

[freshwest]

6. Went through the area a few years ago on my way up to N.M. The patch continues in N.M. Bad air. n/t