Nexen Energy pleads not guilty in oilsands explosion that killed two workers
Nexen Energy has pleaded not guilty to eight charges stemming from a fatal explosion at the company's oilsands site in northern Alberta.
Some charges relate to whether a compressor had been properly serviced and whether workers were aptly trained
The Canadian Press ·
The view of the gas compression building in the hydrocracker unit after an explosion in 2016, which killed one worker and critically injured a second. (Nexen)
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Nexen Energy has pleaded not guilty to eight charges stemming from a fatal explosion at the company's oilsands site in northern Alberta.
Drew Foster, who was 52 and from Niagara Falls, Ont., died at the scene.
Thirty-year-old David Williams of Scotchtown, N.S., died several days later in hospital.
The men were doing maintenance inside a hydrogen compressor building at the company's Long Lake upgrader in January 2016 when the explosion occurred.
Alberta Occupational Health and Safety charged the Calgary-based energy company in December.
A trial date is to be set in a Fort McMurray, Alta., court on May 16.
Nexen Energy is a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned firm China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC Ltd.
Some of the charges relate to whether a compressor at the site had been properly serviced and whether the workers in charge of the machine had read its operating manual and safety rules.
The explosion killed maintenance workers Drew Foster, left, and David Williams who were refitting the valves on a compressor in the gas compression building in the hydrocracker unit. (CBC)
