Gasfrac files for creditor protection

Frack Loophole Closes Itself as Napalm Clusterfracker Goes Bankrupt by Chip Northrup, January 17, 2016, No Fracking Way

The New York Frack Babies thought they were going to make an end run around the proposed generic guidelines by fracking themselves with gelled LPG (ie. Napalm) instead of water. But the contractor they were negotiating with, Gasfrac, just filed for bankruptcy – along with hundreds of other oil field service providers. Plus there was that thing about their liability coverage – they kept blowing people up. So they ran out of pizzas. Imagine that.

Imagine what a partially collapsed salt cavern of this stuff would do . . . 

Gasfrac files for creditor protection by Jeffrey Jones, January 16, 2015, The Globe and Mail
Gasfrac Energy Services Inc. has filed for protection from creditors after the struggling drilling company failed to find a buyer or attract new customers as oil and gas markets sputtered.

Gasfrac, known for its unique waterless rock fracturing technology, said on Friday it filed for court protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The move comes two months after it hired financial advisers to seek out strategic options, including a sale.

The company said in a statement that it is unable to meet its financial obligations due to negative operating results, limited access to new capital, the slowdown in the energy industry and the absence of a buyer for its assets.

The stock was halted on on the Toronto Stock Exchange Friday. It last traded at 27.5 cents, down from $1.99 in May, after activist investor Julien Balkany, chief investment officer of Nanes Balkany Partners LLC, took a sizable stake and forced board and strategic changes at the company.

“The corporation was unable to restructure its affairs in an adequate manner, and after careful consideration of all other available alternatives, the board of directors … determined that it was in the best interests of the corporation and all of its stakeholders to file for an application for creditor protection under the CCAA,” it said.

[Refer also to:

GasFrac agrees to replace board of directors, Troubled Calgary frac company makes deal with Nanes Balkany Partners I LP; Nominates itself for Edison Award to improve Marketability

Canadian Company Gasfrac Tests Waterless Fracking in Texas

Waterless Fracking Moves Into California Market, With Its Own Set Of Safety Issues, Dry-fracking is expected to make its way to California communities soon if the oil industry has its way

Canadian Company Gasfrac Tests Waterless Fracking in Texas

Hydraulic fracturing with gelled propane by Gasfrac/Crew Energy Inc./Caltex Energy Inc. contaminated groundwater near Grande Prairie: ERCB (now AER) Investigative Report and groundwater monitoring by Alberta Environment

Stock slides as GasFrac parts ways with top managers, Waterless well stimulation company promises to repair financial woes

2011 03 07 gasfrac explosion 13 injured edson AB

Slide from Ernst presentations

Oil workers suffer burns in blast by Canada’s Occupational Health and Safety Magazine, March 2011
Three GASFRAC Energy Services Inc. employees were transported to an Alberta hospital with burn injuries following an explosion and fire on January 14 [2011]. At about 5:30 pm, the employees of the Calgary company were performing gas fracturing – a process that stimulates the production of oil and gas – on a wellsite near Edson, Alberta, when a fire broke out, says Barrie Harrison, a spokesperson for Alberta Employment and Immigration in Edmonton. The site is owned by prime contractor Husky Energy Inc. The propane leak was quickly contained, although the resulting fire damaged the back end of two fracturing pumpers, reports James Hill, chief financial officer of GASFRAC. Of the employees who suffered burn injuries, two were released from hospital and the third remained with second-degree burns to his hands, Hill notes. As a precautionary measure, “GASFRAC has suspended operations until the root cause of the leak has been identified and necessary corrective actions initiated,” notes a company statement. Harrison said following the incident that two orders had been issued: a stop-work order to Husky Energy for work at the site; and a stop-work order to GASFRAC for its gas fracturing equipment.

Husky well fire injures several Alberta workers by Nathan Vander Klippe with files from Josh Wingrove, March 7, 2011, The Globe and Mail
About a dozen workers were injured after a “flash fire” burst out from an Alberta natural gas well owned by Husky Energy Inc. RCMP reported that 12 workers were hurt, with two evacuated to hospital by helicopter. Officials with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety said the number may be closer to eight, although investigators were to arrive on site Monday afternoon to determine exact specifics. No deaths have been reported, although three people were sent to an Edmonton burn unit. … Bob Curran, a spokesman with the Energy Resources Conservation Board, said the fire burst out as workers were setting up to begin the underground fraccing. Mr. Curran said the well was to be fractured using propane, a technique that has already injured three other workers this year. In January, Gasfrac Energy Services Inc. said a propane leak at one of its work sites created a “short fire.” The company suspended all operations for more than two weeks as it sought to figure out what went wrong.

This entry was posted in Global Frac News. Bookmark the permalink.