Sour Gas damages the brain, even at very low levels:
1. Exposure to levels below 10 ppm permanently damage the human brain 
This was quickly removed after I posted it a few years ago. It’s a dead link now.
2. Harm from levels below 10 ppm by Worksafe Alberta And, after me posting it, this now goes to UCP boasting about jobs economy trade.
3. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) LOW LEVEL HEALTH HARM WARNINGS:
Sour Gas Concentration (ppm)/Symptoms/Effects
0.01-1.5 ppm/Odor threshold (when rotten egg smell is first noticeable to some). …
2-5 ppm/Prolonged exposure may cause nausea, tearing of the eyes, headaches or loss of sleep. Airway problems (bronchial constriction) in some asthma patients.
… The Canadian Union of Public Employees safety sheet for workers, for example, says “THE SAFEST EXPOSURE TO HYDROGEN SULFIDE IS NO EXPOSURE AT ALL.” …
By way of context, it points out that in a single recent five-year span there were 73 documented sour gas leaks in B.C. and that 34 workers have died as a result of sour gas exposure since 1983. …
***
@lwsresearch Jul 31:
Cenovus Energy $CVE cuts its 2025 output forecast after a steam leak shut down its Rush Lake facility. Q2 production fell to 765.9k boepd, hit by maintenance and wildfires. Net income dropped to C$851M as oil prices slipped amid tariffs and OPEC+ supply gains.
Rush Lake fully stopped, says latest Cenovus update by Dan Gray, July 31, 2025
Cenovus Energy says it’s safely stopped the steam leak at its Rush Lake 2 thermal facility near Paynton, Sask.
The company provided the latest update on July 31, noting workers successfully stopped the leak.
“With the well now under control, we continue to perform completion activities to fully isolate the well and are preparing for cleanup and remediation of the site,” stated Cenovus.
“As of July 17, the vapour release that had produced odours in the region has been eliminated.”I do not believe that. I expect there will continue to be sour gas rising to surface from frac’d caprock in various areas around the site. Refer below to the bubbling holes in pasture
The leak began around May 9 when steam from a failed injection well casing surfaced near the facility. The site released vapour clouds with strong odours, affecting rural homes and farms in the area.
Cenovus worked to reduce pressure and contain fluids and crews built berms and injected water before shutting in 15 of the 16 wells on the pad. The company also brought in a drilling rig in late June to assist.
Ministry response:
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources confirmed the well contributing to the surface release has been brought under control and abandonment work is ongoing.
“As the provincial oil and gas regulator, the Ministry of Energy and Resources confirms Cenovus has made significant progress in addressing the surface release at its Rush Lake thermal facility in the R.M. of Paynton,” said the ministry in a statement.
The ministry will continue to monitor air quality in the region throughout the abandonment process. They will also provide oversight of the continuing work.
“Air quality data submitted to the ministry by Cenovus, and verified by the ministry’s air quality measurements, continues??? For months the sour gas was poisoning people, harming their nervous systems and brains. It’s inappropriate to mislead the harmed but typical of our non regulating regulators and oil and gas companies in Canada to show no risk to public health,” said the ministry.
Since the initial leak, residents in the area raised concerns about possible exposure to hydrogen sulphide and benzene. Some said they experienced headaches and nausea.
The province has yet to release air-quality data to the public.
The ministry will launch its own investigation once the well is fully isolated from the reservoir. It will assess Cenovus’ environmental remediation plans and require the company to submit a full report explaining the cause of the incident and outline steps to prevent it from happening again.
“The Ministry of Energy and Resources will continue to prioritize the safety of the public and the environment as we oversee and review the response to this incident,” the ministry said.
Cenovus’ promise
Cenovus said it regrets the impact on people living nearby.
“The complexity of the response led to the duration of the incident and the odours, which we know adversely impacted our neighbours,” said Cenovus in a statement. “We sincerely apologize for this and we’ll continue to communicate with the people and communities to provide updates as new information becomes available.”
The company promised lessons learned from the incident would shape future safety practices.
“Cenovus is committed to continuous improvement. What we learn from this incident investigation will assist us in further enhancing overall safety and performance at our thermal operations.”
Air quality data from Rush Lake remains mystery by Dan Gray, July 20, 2025
One of the photos on display at the Cenovus Energy open house taken on July 1. Dan Gray – Meridian Source
Air quality at the Rush Lake Thermal Facility was a hot topic during a recent public meeting.
The meeting addressed a leak, reported on May 7, that has residents concerned over smells emitting from the site.
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources says there is no risk to public health, but it isn’t releasing the testing data
“The Ministry of Energy and Resources continues to fly drones to monitor air quality and detect Hydrogen Sulfide gas (H2S) levels to verify data being collected by Cenovus,” they said in a statement.
“The verification work conducted by the Ministry of Energy and Resources, along with other Government of Saskatchewan entities, has detected no risk to public health.Why not tell the fucking truth and let people protect themselves and their loved ones?
“Once the incident has been resolved, the data will be used for further evaluation as part of the ministry’s investigative process.”
Residents believe the well is leaking H2S and Benzene, which are dangerous to human health. People reported strong smells, headaches and nausea in June.
According to national safety standards, safe levels for H2S over eight hours are one part per million (ppm) within a 15-minute window and the limit is five ppm.I do not trust this. Better to trust the levels at the top of this post
Benzene has safety levels of 0.5 ppm over eight hours and 2.5 ppm over 15 minutes.
Saskatchewan treats Benzene as a Category 1 carcinogen and uses exposure limits from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Safe levels are 0.1 ppm over eight hours and 1 ppm over 15 minutes.
Benzene also messes with human sperm; this has been known since 2014: Benzene Exposure Near the US Permissible Limit Associated With Sperm Aneuploidy
According to Cenovus, the leak was reduced on July 17.
***
@honestcanadian.bsky.social:
Rush Lake Thermal Facility is a Cenovus Energy oil project that uses high pressure steam to warm heavy oil so they can get it out of the ground.
The leak is releasing muddy, silty water, steam and hydrogen sulphide gas. It is very toxic and flammable.
@mark_skittle Jul 16:
Nightmare fuel. Longer this goes, you have to think it’s going to be a reserves write down of the remaining OBIP (meaning it’s a caprock integrity/breach issue).
@Dima_username Jul 16:
How combustible is that lake of oil?? Do u really want all that equipment nearby? I dunno man, at least throw a do not smoke signs around
@Dima_username Jul 16:
Isn’t there H2S and hot steam coming out of the ground ?? Seems odd how everyone just chillin nearbybecause Cenovus is lying to them
@CBystender Jul 16:
Shittiest management and executive team among major Canadian producers strikes again. They laid off a bunch of technical folks to promote more buddy VPs. Absolute shit show of the company.
@SeanTucker16 Jul 15:
And let’s not forget that @cenovus, after ~70 days, has STILL has not contained a leak (part H2S) that is impacting health at Poundmaker Cree Nation and other communities in SK.
Day 40 of the uncontrolled gas leak effecting the health of residents of Poundmaker Cree Nation: “The [Ministry of Energy and Resources] does not know when the problem will be resolved.”
Day 41: “We are safely managing and have stabilized a well release” Cenovus
Okay
@HanznFranz:
Nothing to see here folks
Just a well leak at a thermal facility emitting hydrogen sulphide gas in west central Saskatchewan for over a month.
Cenovus, fix your mess!
@socialgreenmh:
Regulation only means something when it’s matched by real protections for people and the environment—calls for speed shouldn’t drown out ongoing community impacts like this.And must be matched by companies giving a shit (Cenovus does not, they only care about money, just like illegal aquifer frac’er Encana that spawned them after my lawsuit was filed) and must be matched by regulators regulating, which I’ve never seen happen yet in Canada, and I’m near the end of my life.
@DblCoverage Jun 20:
Strong stench of hydrogen sulphide gas for over a month?
Picture of the release at the Rush Lake 2 Facility on July 10, 2025. (Anonymous Post/Facebook)
‘It’s been a waste of our time’: Community dissatisfied with Cenovus Rush Lake open house while uncontrolled well release continues by Austin Mattes, Jul 11, 2025
Residents and community leaders said they left Thursday’s open house in Paynton feeling frustrated and unheard, more than two months after the Rush Lake 2 thermal facility uncontrolled well release began.
The open house, hosted by Cenovus Energy at the RM of Paynton Office gymnasium on July 10, featured information cards on easels explaining the incident, with company representatives available to answer questions. But many attendees said it failed to meet the standard of meaningful consultation or accountability.
“This was not a community consultation, this was a melee of a bunch of people with name tags and no face or no talk or no anything,” said Crystal Miller, president of the Midwest Indigenous Society in Lloydminster.
“We are very, very disheartened, very disappointed about how this has went. It’s been a waste of our time,” she added.
One of the information cards provided at the open house. (Austin Mattes/BattlefordsNOW Staff)Dirty Cenovus! Leave out the most deadly important pollutant off their “information” cards – H2S!
One of the information cards provided at the open house. (Austin Mattes/BattlefordsNOW Staff)
The Midwest Indigenous Society represents off-reserve First Nations, non-status, Métis, and Southern Inuit Peoples within an 80-kilometre radius of Lloydminster. As one of five national Indigenous organizations recognized by the federal government through the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Miller said her organization is still waiting for meaningful engagement.
“We’re talking about lasting impacts, groundwater, wildlife, people, our river. And to date, we have not been consulted and nobody is getting consulted here,” she said.
Residents who attended the open house voiced similar frustration, telling battlefordsNOW they were ‘expecting more’ and felt like the information provided was a repeat of earlier updates.
Online, community members also criticized the event structure. One social media comment referred to the open house as a ‘divide and conquer tactic’, while another said, ‘People just want answers. We know they’re doing all they can, no one questions that. We just need to know the truth.’
No end in sight
Cenovus has been battling the release since May 7 and shut down its Rush Lake 1 and 2 thermal facilities for the ‘foreseeable future’.In my view, that means the company knows damn well they fucked up big time, and likely will not be able to repair the problem. I bet good old greed, too much pressure, too much volume, whammo, frac’d the caprock to hell! They’ll never be able to adequately fully and appropriately stop sour gas from rising to surface, poisoning everything and likely groundwater in the area. The release originates from an 8-year-old pad installed in 2018 at the Rush Lake 2 facility. So far, 15 of the 16 wells on the pad have been ‘killed’, but one remains uncontrolled, and there is still no timeline for when it will be stabilized. Due to the cease of production, Cenovus is losing an estimated 16,000 barrels of oil per day from the facilities.Boo hoo. Greed always fails you fuckers, you know that.
MUST WATCH 24 SECONDS!!
Senior operations manager for the Upstream Division in Lloydminster, Clayton Ulrich told reporters in a brief press conference prior to the open house, that the company is trying everything they can, including using heavy brine fluids, barytes, cement, and drilling rigs in an effort to stop the release.
“We’re still going through a thorough investigation to understand it. We feel that we have a casing leak for sure on location, but it’s been very, very difficult to work through that process with eight pairs (of wells) on site,” Ulrich said.
Some of the slides provided at the open house. (Austin Mattes/BattlefordsNOW Staff)
Ulrich also acknowledged the company’s failure to communicate with the public in the early days of the incident.
“We realized that we needed to get out to the public. We didn’t do it soon enough. We absolutely understand that. All I can say is that we were focused on the response and the people in the immediate area,” he said.
Health and Environmental Concerns
Residents have raised concerns about health impacts, including headaches and dizziness, believed to be linked to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions from the release. Ulrich said the ‘muddy, silty water’ surfacing from the site traps vapour molecules containing H2S, creating a strong odour in the area.Or, since SAGD is steam frac’ing, that means water is being injected into the subsurface there. Frac’ing has soured more than 70% of formations worldwide! I bet Cenovus created sour gas beneath the surface, the way Encana and Cenovus have in BC and Alberta.
Hourly concentrations of H2S have ranged from 11 to 510 parts per billion. Cenovus maintains that these levels are not harmful, and ongoing water testing in the surrounding areas has not revealed any safety risks to date.What about contamination? Cenovus is lying; those levels are harmful, damage eyes, brain and nervous system.
Some of the slides provided at the open house. (Austin Mattes/BattlefordsNOW Staff)
“We’re sharing that information with the Ministry of Energy and resources as well as the raw data as well as they’ve been out in the community with their drones and their air monitoring systems to take their readings to make sure that our readings are accurate and they’re matching,” Ulrich said.
Some of the slides provided at the open house. (Austin Mattes/BattlefordsNOW Staff)
Notice how Intrinsik puts the blame on you instead of on Cenovus where it belongs – if you have asthma, you might get headaches related to odours. Fuckers. Anyone can get headaches from sour gas exposure — your brain is being damaged FFS!
Big Lie bottom right hand corner!! All concentrations of H2S damage the human brain and our nervous system. Do not believe these douche fuckers! They are paid to lie to you. If you can smell it, sour gas is harming you.
I do not trust anything by Intrinsik, notably not their data or that posted by Cenovus. In my view, they are an H2S poisoning enabler of Encana/Cenovus. Also note that these types of pollute-you-experts know how to sample to get the smallest readings. Regardless, H2S is fucking harmful if you can smell it.
But for many, the answers remain unsatisfying, especially in light of photos and reports circulating of bubbling holes in nearby fields. When questioned, Ulrich said he had not seen such evidence but would be interested in investigating further.
Submitted photo of a local pasture in the area with bubbling holes in the ground, although it’s not known exactly when these holes appeared.
Looking Ahead
Despite having over 100 workers on-site daily and multiple containment efforts underway, the cause of the release remains uncertain. Even though Ulrich said a well casing failure is suspected, he stressed that there has been no indication of improper well installment being the cause.
“We have a very extensive integrity program and we check our wells consistently. There was no indication, and we didn’t see anything flagging on the alarms. We didn’t see anything out of the ordinary,” he explained.
For Indigenous leaders like Miller and concerned residents in the area, the situation has highlighted a deeper issue – a lack of genuine dialogue.
“I believe this is set up a certain way so that there’s no one person taking credibility or no one person giving guidance. Midwest Indigenous Society is planning on having an actual consultation meeting and we invite Cenovus to come to this meeting to actually engage the people in Lloydminster,” Miller said.
Cenovus is responding to community inquiries through a phone line at 1-877-697-4480.
Rush Lake leak continues, Cenovus holds open house, Concerned residents were able to talk to Cenovus Energy officials on the situation at the Rush Lake 2 thermal site by Azure McGonigle, Jul 11, 2025, Sask Today
PAYNTON — Cenovus Energy held an open house for residents in the RM of Paynton July 10, with updates on the Rush Lake leak, which was first reported May 7. Many residents, including Cut Knife – Turtleford MLA James Thorsteinson, who farms north of Maidstone, came to the open house looking for some answers.
Clayton Ulrich, senior manager for the Upstream Division in Lloydminster, spoke to the media prior to the open house. Ulrich started by saying he understands the frustration from within the community, especially with the strong brain and nervous system damagingodours and the duration of the events. He continued to say Cenovus is laser-focused on getting this resolved, working as hard as they can while maintaining everyone’s safety.
While many of the residents can still smell the strong odour of the sour gas, or H2S, in the windy conditions from the site, Ulrich said the company is continuously monitoring the air and water quality on site and throughout the perimeter, sharing the data with the Ministry of Energy and Resources, citing that the current levels for the area are in the parts per billion, which is well below the health concern thresholds.I would not believe any data spewed by Cenovus (illegal aquifer frac’er Encana spawn) management or PR people. This is what a worker reported:
@RickBen76292242 Jul 16:
8% H2S as well… We can only get in to check our wells when the wind is blowing the right way
its not good luckily the area is sparsely populated
Ulrich also stated in his opening remarks that the word did not get out to the public soon enough.
“As things continued to progress and the duration became longer and longer, we realized we needed to get out to the public. We didn’t do it soon enough, we understand that, but we are committed to changing that, and part of today with the open house is having those conversations with the residents and local communities.”
A 1-877 line was set up for residents to call and voice concerns, as well as liaisons going door-to-door, having one-on-one conversations with people throughout the rural municipalities and communities. The line, which was set up on May 20, has received between zero and six calls a day, with one day receiving nine calls.
Cenovus believes what is happening at the Rush Lake 2 site is a well casing failure, which is bringing up muddy, silty water from the steam injection. While it may still be unknown as to how or where the failure happened, Ulrich did say the company is working through their investigation to understand what is happening with the well.I bet it’s more likely they fucking frac’d the caprock to hell like companies are doing in Alberta with their good old deregulated greed
“We feel that we have a casing leak, for sure, on location, but it’s been very difficult to work through that process with eight pairs … – eight producers and eight injectors on site, working through that process to identify exactly what it is,” said Ulrich.
During the interview, Ulrich spoke about what is being done to stop the current situation.
“Initially, it was containment, making sure that we didn’t get any fluid off-site, which we have not. We’ve done a ton of earthwork, building berms, geo-berms, managing and dredging the fluid so that we can pump the fluid into our C-rings. We’ve had two coil tubing units on our lease, two service rigs and two drill rigs to help bring the wells under control.”
Ulrich added that with eight paired wells, it has been difficult to identify which well is causing the release.
“We have 15 of the 16 wells stabilized and the site is stabilized. We’re still working on the last well right now that is still within our well control.”
It was said that Cenovus has tried a number of ways to contain the situation, including brine fluids, barite and cement. However, the location of the leak has been the issue, which is why drilling rigs have been brought in to help come in from a different angle.
The Rush Lake sites produce around 16,000 barrels of oil per day, which ceased production the day of the release. Although Cenovus says their concern is getting the well under control, they realized there is an issue with the pad and will be putting it to bed.
Resident raises health concerns about Cenovus well leak in Saskatchewan, Company working to resolve the leak, which has been ongoing since May by Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press, Jun 20, 2025, CBC News
Cenovus Energy Inc. is facing questions over a well leak at a thermal facility in western Saskatchewan, where an area resident says some are concerned about their health.
Mylan Tootoosis of Poundmaker Cree Nation said Thursday the Rush Lake site in Paynton, Sask., is releasing a strong stench and some are getting headaches, watery eyes and sore throats.In my professional opinion (I’ve taking H2S courses), if you can smell H2S, you are getting brain damage. N95s do not protect against deadly gases like methane or sour gas. Full face respirator required. Cenovus knows this, as do our regulators, but they will never protect us or the environment or other species from their deadly leaks, because that might cut into profit raping. Buy the proper PPE, invoice the county, regulator, and Cenovus. They’ll never reimburse you because that would admit guilt and responsibility for causing health harm, but, you protect yourself and your loved ones, and start a paper trail.
“It was to the point where the smell was making its way into households and the school,” Tootoosis said.They don’t care, not even when they poison kids, ask the kids in NEBC (refer below in the cross references) and throughout Alberta
“Everybody was pretty upset with how bad it has gotten over the last month. There’s been no formal communication, no information sharing from Cenovus. We want to see data.”So do I.
Cenovus said in a statement it’s working to resolve the leak, which has been releasing an odorous water vapour since early May.That means nothing. Working to resolve something can take 20 years, without actually doing anything to fix the leak. Leak repair costs money, which these fuckers hate to spend, unless its on them and their pals going to Palm Springs golfing and taking county councillors along to bribe them complacent.
It said it does not know the cause but believes it may be a problem with a well casing.If the company does not know what is causing the leak, how the hell can they be working at resolving it? I think they’re doing nothing and plan on continuing to do nothing. Human and other species lives are worth nothing to them.
“We are continuously monitoring the air quality both at site and in the surrounding areas,” the company said.
“Fluids onsite are being contained within berms to prevent them from entering any waterways. We are regularly monitoring nearby water bodies and there is no impact.”Pffft. I do not believe you. Liar Liar liar liar liar liar! As long as Cenovus does not know where the leak is, or how the leak is happening, it’s impossible for them to know there is no impact. Also, because there is strong odour, impacts and harms are happening.
In a statement, Saskatchewan’s energy ministry said the fluid being released is mostly muddy water and steam, but it includes hydrogen sulfide gas.Why the hell deflect the serious health harms by saying the leaking fluid is mostly water and steam? H2S damages the brain, eyes, nervous system in tiny amounts. Shame on Sask Energy. Just as pathetic as AER. Douche Fuckers
“While gas being released at the site is causing strong odours, the monitoring work has detected no immediate risk to public health,” the ministry said.Liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar! There is risk, every minute that leak continues. Some one could be killed in a few minutes. That’s immediate.
Tootoosis described the odour as smelling of tar and rotten eggs.
“There’s some people who say that it shows up in their mouth, like they feel like they could taste it as a result of smelling it,” he said.It’s damaging your brain when it does that. Don’t breath the air!!! You and others in your community are breathing deadly toxic gas.
‘Need to see some transparency’
The ministry does not know when the problem will be resolved, but says it will conduct a review and outline remediation requirements once the situation is cleared.WTF????? Ass backwards! Companies are mandated to have emergency response plans in place for when problems like this happen, not to be outlined afterwards, when it’s too late. Quadruple Douche Fuckers!
“The focus remains on bringing the surface release under control, maintaining public and environmental safety, and verifying and approving Cenovus’ incident response measures,” it said.
Tootoosis said some are referring to Rush Lake as “Hush Lake,” because they aren’t getting answers.Excellent. At least someone in the contaminated zone is honest and intelligent!
“I definitely need to see some transparency,” he said. “We also need a third-party investigation into what happened and why it’s been taking so long (to resolve the leak).“
Asked about the issue at an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said he had spoken with Cenovus representatives and was told the company is working to contain the leak.I think the company is twiddling their penises, waiting and “hoping” for the best, and that good old nature will take care of it for them and magically stop the leak.
Cenovus reports Rush Lake “stabilized” by Dan Gray, June 20, 2025, Source, Your Community News
Cenovus Energy provided the following update to the Meridian Source on June 19 regarding the ongoing incident at its Rush Lake facility.
The incident, which started on May 9, is under investigation, however, initial reports lead to a well casing as the cause.
Read more: VIDEOS: Cenovus responding to Rush Lake leak
“We are safely NOT!! Cenovus knows its poisoning the community air, and most likely has contaminated or will contaminate the groundwater with frac chemicals and sour gas, rendering the water dangerous to usemanaging and have stabilized a well release, primarily comprised of water vapour, at our Rush Lake 2 thermal facility. We are currently isolating the well pad,” read the update.
“While we will undertake a thorough investigation to determine the cause, we currently believe it is an issue with a well casing. We continue to work closely with the Ministry of Energy and Resources as we safely repeatedly saying the word is not going to make anything safe. The only thing that will decrease the danger and poisoning is fixing the frac’d caprock, and desouring the formation, which is impossible execute activities on site.
Read more: VIDEO: Rush Lake aerial view
“We are continuously monitoring the air quality both at site and in the surrounding areas. We recognize thisdeadly sour gas in the water vapour is resulting in an odour which is life threatening and brain damaging in the communities.
“Fluids onsite are being contained within berms to prevent them from entering any waterways. We are regularly monitoring nearby water bodies and there is no impact.
Rush Lake 1 and 2 are safelyNot as long as H2S is rising to surface at the site and elsewhere in the surrounding area, and poisoning the community!shut in.”
Updates to this story will be provided as information is made available.
Read more: VIDEO: Local media barred from Rush Lake update meeting
SAGD blowout to surface east of Maidstone on May 9 by Brian Zinchuk, May 15, 2025, Pipeline Online
This undated photo shows the Rush Lake 2 site of the blowout. The North Saskatchewan River can be seen in the background, 2 kilometres away. Facebook
MAIDSTONE – On May 9, Cenovus Energy had an explosive pressure release to the surface from its Rush Lake 2 thermal facility.Sounds like a frac hit, a serious fucking frac hit
That facility is on the upper plateau of the west bank of the North Saskatchewan River, 21 kilometres due east of Maidstone. Aerial photos available on social media show the impacted area is a well pad is across the road, immediately east of the Rush Lake 2 facility. The well pad in question is approximately two kilometres from the riverbank, and on the plateau just above the valley slopes.
That photo shows a blackened area around what appears to be a hole in the ground with berm around it. A video also circulating on social media shows a release of steam with some black substance in it, although it’s unclear if that black substance is oil or dirt.
This is a screenshot of the explosive release for a well east of the Rush Lake 2 thermal facility. Facebook
According to the Saskatchewan Mining and Petroleum GeoAtlas, well pairs originating from that well pad run almost straight southwest from the pad, away from the river. None of the wells from that pad or the adjacent pads run towards the river or below the slopes of the river valley.
The red starburst in the centre indicates the approximate location of the blowout, as correlated from the top photo above. This is a map of wellbores in the area, according to the Saskatchewan GeoAtlas
PROMO VIDEO: https://pipelineonline.ca/sagd-blowout-to-surface-east-of-maidstone-on-may-9/#/?playlistId=0&videoId=0
Cenovus responded by email on May 15, saying the following:
- “Cenovus continues to safely and effectively respond to the well release incident at the Rush Lake 2 thermal facility. The release is primarily water vapour and dirt from the well site.
- “Our immediate focus is on our response. We have numerous employees and contractors working on site.
- “Berms are in place to isolate the impacted area and there is no evidence of any impacts on nearby water bodies or wildlife. As a precaution, Cenovus is monitoring nearby water bodies on an ongoing basis.
- “All appropriate regulators and neighbouring municipalities have been notified. We are in regular communication with the local representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Resources to update them on our activities.
- “We are updating residents living within a five-kilometre radius of the facility. Cenovus is working with local area farmers to ensure they have access to their lands for seasonal farming.
- “All workers are accounted for, and no injuries have been reported.
- “Our immediate focus is on our response. Once the matter is resolved, we will undertake a thorough investigation into the cause and use what we learn to further improve our operations.”
The white circle in the centre indicates the approximate location of the blowout, as correlated from the photo above. The North Saskatchewan River is 2 kilometres to the east, according to Google Maps.
Regulator response
Assistant Deputy Minister of Energy and Resources Rebecca Gibbons spoke to Pipeline Online on May 15 about the incident. She said, “Cenovus has had an uncontrolled release at the Rush Lake thermal area in the RM of Paynton. And so as a result of that, operations have been shut down, and crews continue to work to mitigate the impact of the release and gather further information to determine the source. We became aware that Cenovus shut this facility down on May the ninth.”
She continued, “We are still working to continue to confirm what substances have been detected, and the cause of the releases.”
“The incident is still in the phase of ensuring public and environmental safety, and so once you’re under control, we’ll actually move to fact finding and the cause and analysis around that.
“I should also point out that the risk of the public is extremely low, and so anything associated with their releases have been shut down and with work being conducted to manage the incident and to determine the cause,” Gibbons said.
Asked if there was any sheen detected on the North Saskatchewan River, two kilometres away, Gibbons responded, “Right now in terms of the environmental impacts, it’s too early to say at this time, so that will be part of the ongoing response process.”
“Work is continuing to confirm which substances have been detected, and the cause of the releases. So there was some indication that some produced oil from the reservoir, water, steam, drilling mud and low amounts of H2S were present in the release.
Her understanding was that the facility, that thermal area, has been shut down.
The well license for one of the injector wells drilled from that pad and in the general vicinity of the blowout indicated a true vertical depth of 436 metres. The terminating stratigraphic unit is the Sparky Member. There are eight Rotoflex jacks on that pad, according to the photo.
Asked what the next step was, Gibbons said, “As the regulator, the Ministry of Energy and Resources, are the ones that are involved in responding to an incident like this. We also are in contact with our colleagues at the Ministry of Environment as well.”
“We’re on site and assisting in the response,” she said.
(contributed photo with permission/Meridian Source)
Uncontrolled release at oil well near Lloyd; residents frustrated with lack of communication by battlefordsNOW Staff, May 13, 2025
Cenovus is dealing with a well release at the Rush Lake 2 thermal facility, about 80 kilometers southeast of Lloydminster.
In a statement emailed to battlefordsNOW, the energy company’s media relations department didn’t detail the cause of the release but said it is ‘primarily water vapour.’
The site is a thermal heavy oil project which uses steam underground to make it easier to extract oil.
“Berms are in place to isolate the impacted area and there is no evidence of any impacts on nearby water bodies or wildlife” the email read.That doesn’t mean there were none. If one does not look, or knows how to avoid finding impacts, it’s easy to say “no evidence.” I bet wildlife, birds were impacted, seriously.
To mitigate the incident, Cenovus Energy told the Meridian Source, a local newspaper in Lloydminster, it’s injecting water into the wells at the site and the activity intermittently creates increased release of water vapour and dirt at the site, resulting in a visible plume of smoke.
Out of an abundance of caution, one farmer remains out of his home and the company said it’s working closely with all neighbouring farmers. A 1.6 kilometre emergency protection zone around Rush Lake 2 has been established and there are three checkpoint roadblocks. Some access to the north of the facility is impacted.
Cenovus said all appropriate regulators and neighbouring municipalities have been notified and they are in communication with the Ministry of Energy and Resources to update them on progress.
“We are undertaking a proactive communications plan with regularly updating residents living within a five-kilometre radius of the facility.”
However, residents battlefordsNOW spoke to Tuesday said they were frustrated by a lack of communication from Cenovus with the whole community. The well release has caused a strong odor and some residents have experienced headaches as a result.That means likely brain damage. No living being ought to be breathing that toxic shit
One person, who didn’t want to be named, said they heard from area farmers that oil was coming up through the ground in some pastures. Another said they were worried about what was happening to the groundwater.
“How long was it penetrating the ground before it [the oil] decided to come up?”, said the resident. “I’m disappointed with the lack of information coming out of Cenovus about what’s going on.”
The resident who submitted this photo of a local pasture said oil has come up through these holes in the ground, although it’s not known exactly when these holes appeared.
Once the release is resolved, Cenovus said it will undertake a thorough investigation into the cause and use what they learn to improve operations.
Refer also to:
2025: National Geographic: What fracking is doing to the Earth—and to our bodies; Dr. Sandra Steingraber: “This is a public health crisis.” SAGD is frac’ing!!
Robert David Taylor
2019: Steam-assisted oil recovery: Riskier than fracking?
Thanks Steve Harper for enabling deadly polluters and helping them keep secret how they are sickening (by the time you smell sour gas, it’s too late, damages to brain have been done) and killing Canadians.
2014: Hydraulic Fracturing Additives and the Delayed Onset of Hydrogen Sulfide in Shale Gas
As natural gas production has shifted further from deep prolific gas reservoirs to shale gas, several questions are being addressed regarding fracturing technologies and the fate of chemical additives. A less investigated issue is the unexpected increase in produced hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from hot shale gas reservoirs. Understanding the source of H2S in shale reservoirs and managing low-levels of recovered elemental sulfur affects plans for future treatment, corrosion mitigation, and fracture fluid formulations. In this work we demonstrate that some typical ingredients of hydraulic fracturing fluids are not as kinetically stable as one might expect. Surfactants and biocides such as sodium dodecyl sulfate and glutaraldehyde are shown to undergo hydrolysis and thermochemical sulfate reduction reactions under moderate reservoir conditions, with H2S as the final product accompanied with long chain alcohols and hydrogen sulfate as long-lived intermediate species.
This finding suggests that fracture fluid additives can be responsible for the delayed production of natural reservoir H2S.
Source: CNRL Primrose Flow to Surface Causation Report
AER denies one of two CNRL applications to resume high-pressure steam injection near Cold Lake
“You can fix a wellbore, but you can’t repair a fractured cap rock,”
Above snaps from ERCB (now AER) Investigation Report into the 2009 seep to surface Regulator report not released until January 8, 2013
2013: Crossfield steer killed by Taqa North sour gas release
2013:
Bitumen leak to surface caused by high pressure steam injection (aka greed).
2012: $250000 in community safety projects following Encana deadly sour gas leak
2011: Understanding the Souring at Bakken Oil Reservoirs
Oil field reservoir souring is defined as occurring when increasing concentrations of H2S are observed in production fluids. This is a relatively well-known problem in the contemporary oil industry. …
The general causes of souring are geomechanical (fracturing and intrusion into another formation), thermochemical (e.g., mineral dissolution), biogenic (sulfur-reducing bacteria activity), or combinations thereof.
In all cases, the causes of excessive H2S production in previously nonsour environments are primarily anthropogenic and caused by certain operational practices.
2010: EnCana Corporation facing criminal charges
2005: In Calgary Herald
