Flaring took place over several days at Federated Co-operatives Limited’s (FCL) bulk propane plant six kilometres north of Estevan.
An unidentified third-party carrier, who is used to haul propane to the site, inadvertently offloaded anhydrous ammonia into propane storage tanks at the site on Thursday morning.
“It was a driver error on their end, and ultimately there was anhydrous that was in the storage tank in the truck that was delivered into ours,” said Keith Morin, the director of propane for FCL.
FCL said in a news release that the situation was stable after the incident, and both pressurized liquids and associated vapours were fully contained with no release to the environment.
No customers were affected and there have been no injuries associated with this incident.
As part of an emergency response plan, a team emptied the tank by flaring, starting on Friday morning. The process was expected to take 48 to 60 hours.
FCL reported it worked with local and provincial authorities, including the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, RCMP, Estevan Fire Department and Rural Municipality of Estevan to resolve this situation.
The company wanted to tackle the issue immediately, he said.
“Ultimately, we want our facility back up and running to deliver propane to our customers as soon as possible, and the valves and stuff on our vessel are brass, and they’re made for propane and not for anhydrous,” said Morin.
“So we do need to get the anhydrous out of the tank sooner than later, so we chose to do it immediately.”
Morin said he has been in the industry for several years, and this marked the first time FCL has encountered this situation. He knows it has happened to other companies in the past, but these problems are rare.
Propane deliveries to the site were expected to resume this week.
