What Was That Smell?

News, Energy Supply, Safety

May 26, 2015  Comment

As you know, we are in the process of getting our Whitehorse natural gas plant ready for operation. Today, we had a minor incident on the site that involved a small spill (literally one drop) of a liquid odorant known as methyl mercaptan. This spill resulted in a strong smell of rotten eggs being noticed around the site.

Since fuels such as natural gas and propane are odorless, methyl mercaptan is mixed with them so that if there is a gas leak, it can be easily detected. It appears a tiny amount of the mercaptan was accidentally spilled while it was being added to the odorizing system.

The site was temporarily evacuated as a precaution, and the fire department arrived for a short while.

It's important that you understand this was not an LNG leak, and there were no injuries or environmental impacts as a result of this incident.

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