Nexen Energy has been charged in the deaths of two Alberta oilsands workers killed in an on-site explosion in 2016.
The Calgary-based company faces eight charges in the deaths of Dave Williams, 30, and Drew Foster, 52.
Occupational Health and Safety laid the charges on Dec. 19, 2017.
The men were doing maintenance work in a hydrogen compressor building at the Long Lake oilsands facility near Anzac on Jan. 15, 2016, when a blast happened.
The men, both Nexen employees, were refitting the valves on a hydrocracker unit, where hydrogen is combined with partially upgraded oil to remove sulphur and make synthetic crude.
Foster, 52, died at the scene. Williams, 30, died after being hospitalized in critical condition in the burn unit at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton.
The company is accused of a series of violations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including failure to ensure equipment — including a compressor unit known as a Make-Up Gas Compressor — was serviced and maintained according to safety codes, and failure to ensure workers were properly train in handling the machinery.
In July 2016, Ron Bailey, head of Canadian operations at Nexen, said that after an extensive investigation the company found that the explosion was caused by staff doing work they weren’t supposed to be doing.
“Our investigation indicates that the incident was a result of work being performed outside the scope of approved work activities,” Bailey said at a news conference held by the company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation.
The Long Lake oil sands upgrader project is an in-situ oil extraction project about 40 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray.