Americas

Americas

Explosion at Nexen Canadian oil sands facility kills one person

16 January 2016 04:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. One person was killed and a second was in hospital after an explosion at Nexen Energy's Long Lake oil sands facility south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, the company said, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The unit of China's CNOOC Ltd said in a statement that other personnel were accounted for after the Friday afternoon explosion.

Local media said the injured person was in critical condition.

"The affected facility has been shut down and we are stabilizing the scene. There is no immediate danger to the neighboring communities or personnel still on site," the company said.

Emergency response personnel, including first responders, were on site and regulators had been notified, it added.

A company spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for additional details.

The incident comes after Nexen last July discovered a pipeline leak near the site that caused one of North America's largest oil-related spills on land.

The Alberta Energy Regulator last August ordered Nexen to shut 95 pipelines at the Long Lake facility as part of an investigation into the spill. It resumed full production in September.

The Long Lake facility was producing about 50,000 barrels a day of synthetic crude before the July spill.