Hercules Offshore, Inc. (HERO), Chevron Corporation (CVX): Five Disturbing Energy Blunders in 2013

Canada’s national tragedy
Unfortunately, the year was marred by more than just close calls. Earlier this month, a runaway train loaded with oil derailed in a quaint lakeside town in Quebec. An ensuing explosion caused an estimated 1.5 million gallons of oil to catch fire, ultimately killing 47 people. Despite a previously stellar safety record, oil-by-rail has seen several spills this year, including three small spills earlier this year by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP). Its largest accident resulted in a spill of 30,000 gallons of oil in Minnesota. However, those spills are really a drop in the bucket when compared with the devastating tragedy in Canada, which is by far the worst oil-by-rail disaster since the industry started relying on the rails because of a lack of pipeline capacity.

A Canadian Pacific train transporting oil (Source: Flickr/roy.luck)

The wrong chemical equation
The extraction and transportation of natural gas and oil wasn’t the only part of the energy industry to endure a tragic incident. This past April, a fertilizer plant explosion in the town of West, Texas, caught fire and exploded, killing at least 14 while injuring more than 200. The fallout from the incident has the town suing the plant’s supplier, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF). The suit says that CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) “blindly” supplied about 200 tons of a volatile compound to the West Fertilizer Company without investigating whether the plant could store it safely. The wooden warehouse that stored the ammonium nitrate didn’t have fire-resistant partitions or a sprinkler system. Further, it was stored in combustible wooden bins with significant amounts of combustible seeds, which is what helped fuel the intensity of the fire.

Final Foolish thoughts
There’s no way to sugar-coat this: 2013 has been a terrible year for the energy industry as well as sectors closely associated with it. The loss of human life is especially heartbreaking, as several of these disasters will leave a lasting impact. However, we must push forward for a brighter tomorrow and work together to ensure better safeguards are in place so incidents like these don’t ever happen again.

The article 5 Disturbing Energy Blunders in 2013 originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Matt DiLallo.

Fool contributor Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Chevron and owns shares of CF Industries Holdings (NYSE:CF).

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.