An oilsands explosion at the Nexen Long Lake facility last Friday caused the death of one worker, and another worker suffered burns that were so severe that the employee required hospitalization. The explosion occurred about 3:20 pm Friday afternoon while two maintenance workers were inside a gas compression building refitting compressor valves. The worker who was injured is listed as being in critical condition and the employee is being treated at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton burn unit. Fang Zhi, the CEO for Nexen, held a news conference Saturday and told reporters “Yesterday marks one of the darkest days in Nexen history, Standing here today to share this kind of information is the worst thing a CEO ever has to do. But no matter how badly we feel it pales in comparison to the pain that two of our employees’ families are experiencing.”

After the oilsands explosion at the Nexen Long Lake facility Nexen’s Canadian operations senior vice president Ron Bailey apologized publicly to the families of the employees by stating “Having a fatality or having a serious injury is our worst nightmare. I cannot imagine the pain and devastation that this has caused for the families and for that we’re sorry.” The explosion will be investigated by the Alberta Energy Regulator, Occupational Health and Safety, and Nexen as well. There has been a stop work order issued for the facility. According to Wood Buffalo deputy fire chief Brad Grainger “Upon arrival we were put on standby by their fire station. Our crews actually weren’t needed. The Nexen medical people removed the people that were injured and took them into the city, into the hospital. They had enough fire crew people on hand so we were just there to assist their needs if they needed them. As you can imagine, with a scene of this size it does take some time to manage and mitigate.”