News

Bottineau man injured in oil field

By Scott Wagar

12/10/2013

One oil worker received burns in Bottineau County this past week due to an explosion in an oil field.

Lucas Pederson of Bottineau experienced flash burns while working in a treater house near Souris on Wednesday, Dec. 4, which sent him to Trinity Health Center in Minot.

According to Pederson’s family, his burns were to his face, but were minor. He was placed in ICU overnight for precautionary reasons to rule out any issues concerning internal respiratory burns, which turned out to be negative. Pederson was discharged the next day.

The family added that on Wednesday, Pederson was assigned to thaw out a pipe in a treater house which provides natural gas to the building to heat the structure. While in the treater, the pipe flashed, which burned Pederson’s face.

A treater house is a system that separates oil, water and gas. The oil and water are placed in separate tanks while the natural gas is burned off.