Similar Cases:

Oil Well Killing Accident and Explosion

Fire in an Oil Shale Refinery

Failure of Oil Well Drill Casing

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Oil Well Drill Rig Fire

Oil well drillers in Southern California were conducting a routine fracture stimulation process when a truck-mounted oil pump/storage tank caught fire. The fire injured a worker, destroyed valuable drilling equipment, and eventually ignited the oil well itself. The plaintiffs position was that the fire was ignited by sparks from a non-explosion proof electric motor on a portable "bug" fan. APTECH was retained by outside counsel for a motor manufacturer to investigate the original ignition source. Our investigation and analysis revealed many alternative sources of spark ignition, including an electrical short-circuit, friction and static electricity. Hot gases from nearby Diesel engines were also competent ignition sources. We also aided the attorneys in determining that the fan motor was not actually made by the motor manufacturer. The case against the manufacturer was eventually dismissed.

Satish Almaula		Plant failure and root cause analysis; process and design engineering analysis; process technology development and testing; plant engineering, operations, maintenance and safety management; plant and process control system management.

Kimble Clark, Ph.D.		Failure analysis, heat transfer & thermodynamics, process plant equipment failures & explosions, fuel science, combustion, industrial fires and explosions.

Richard Schreiber, P.E.		Machinery and mechanical device failure analysis, mechanical testing, combustion and heat transfer, industrial fires and explosions, gas appliances.

Eric Sullivan, P.E.		Metallurgy, welding, failure analysis, fire and explosion investigations, equipment, piping.

Geoffrey Egan, Ph.D.		Engineering mechanics, welding engineering, stress and fatigue analysis, risk analysis, nondestructive examination, project management.

Steven Kohan, Ph.D.		Chemical engineering, refinery processes, toxic fume generation.