Marathon Oil: Omissions of quantity data

Summary: FracFocus disclosures that omit fundamental quantity information undermine the integrity of the fracking chemical data. Open-FF (1) found that the operator Marathon Oil published 1,230 disclosures with quantity data missing for at least some records. We summarize those omissions here.

A chemical disclosure instrument such as FracFocus depends on accurate and complete data. Individual disclosures with poor or missing data can erode the trust of users for the entire system. FracFocus, unfortunately, has many disclosures with missing data. This post is part of Open-FF’s effort to improve FracFocus data integrity and to alert stakeholders to these data weaknesses.

Along with the identity of a chemical used in a fracking operation, the quantity is critical information. The range of material quantities reported in FracFocus stretches from less than one pound to over a million pounds. When quantity data is missing, a reader of a disclosure won’t be able to tell if, say, a hydrochloric acid record is for one pound or one million pounds – the difference between a small jar’s worth and many tanker trucks full.

Marathon Oil omissions

We’ve found many such data omissions (2) in the disclosures of the operating company, Marathon Oil. As of this date, we’ve found 1,230 disclosures with at least one omission, or 34.4% of all of the company’s disclosures (example). The following chart shows when those fracking jobs occurred and how many records were missing data.

Compared to other companies

More than half of all operators reporting to FracFocus had NO records with quantity omissions. In the following graph, each point is an operator. The companies without omissions are not on this graph. Just 25% of companies are above the horizontal line, and 25% to the right of the vertical line. Marathon Oil is highlighted in orange. Clearly a small fraction of companies account for much of the lacking records and Marathon Oil is part of that club.

Which states?

These flawed disclosures are for fracking jobs in the following states.

State	number of disclosures with omissions
Texas	783
North Dakota	304
Oklahoma	93
New Mexico	47
Wyoming	3

Which chemicals?

The following table lists the materials for which quantity was omitted and how many records of Marathon Oil were affected.

CASRN	Name	Molecular structure	Number of missing values
127-08-2	Potassium acetate		544
123-91-1	1,4-Dioxane		430
75-21-8	Ethylene oxide		430
75-56-9	(+/-)-1,2-Propylene oxide		430
64-19-7	Acetic acid		404
52-51-7	Bronopol		384
9043-30-5	Polyoxyethylene isotridecyl ether		376
50-00-0	Formaldehyde		374
112-53-8	1-Dodecanol		284
2634-33-5	1,2-Benzisothiazolin-3-one		183
533-74-4	Dazomet		175
7632-00-0	Sodium nitrite		174
9004-32-4	Edifas B	no image	160
9005-65-6	Polysorbate 80	no image	146
9016-88-0	1,4-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, polymer with 1,2-ethanediol and .alpha.-hydro-.omega.-hydroxypoly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl)	no image	118
39322-78-6	Potassium lauryl phosphate	no image	115
72283-36-4	Oxirane, 2-methyl-, polymer with oxirane, mono-(9Z)-9-octadecenoate, methyl ether	no image	112
7664-38-2	Phosphoric acid		92
110-30-5	N,N’-Ethylene distearylamide		88
557-04-0	Magnesium stearate		77
11138-66-2	Corn sugar gum	no image	74
112945-52-5	Silica, amorphous, fumed, cryst.-free	no image	72
14807-96-6	Talc	no image	70
111-30-8	Glutaraldehyde		69
68424-85-1	C12-16-Alkylbenzyldimethylammonium chlorides		63
63148-62-9	Siloxanes and Silicones, di-Me	no image	57
9002-84-0	Polytetrafluoroethylene		56
68937-55-3	Siloxanes and Silicones, di-Me, 3-hydroxypropyl Me, ethoxylated propoxylated	no image	50
36089-45-9	2-Propenoic acid, 2-ethylhexyl ester, polymer with 2-hydroxyethyl 2-propenoate	no image	50
68308-89-4	Fatty acids, C18-unsatd., dimers, ethoxylated propoxylated	no image	50
112-80-1	Oleic acid		43
79-06-1	Acrylamide		42
125005-87-0	Diutan gum	no image	37
7173-51-5	Didecyldimethylammonium chloride		35
64742-47-8	Distillates (petroleum), hydrotreated light	no image	34
68002-97-1	Ethoxylated C10-16 alcohols	no image	33
1338-41-6	Anhydrosorbitol stearate	no image	30
68551-12-2	Alcohols, C12-16, ethoxylated	no image	30
143-18-0	Potassium oleate		28
25322-68-3	Polyethylene glycol		28
1310-73-2	Sodium hydroxide		26
69011-36-5	Polyoxyethylene trimethyldecyl alcohol	no image	25
107-21-1	Ethylene glycol		25
9003-11-6	Poloxalene	no image	24
58089-99-9	Benzenesulfonic acid, 4-dodecyl-, compd. with 2-aminoethanol (1:1)		24
68439-50-9	Alcohols, C12-14, ethoxylated	no image	17
5064-31-3	Glycine, N,N-bis(carboxymethyl)-, trisodium salt		16
7631-86-9	Silica		16
12125-02-9	Ammonium chloride		15
84133-50-6	Alcohols, C12-14-secondary, ethoxylated	no image	15
7447-40-7	Potassium chloride		15
540-72-7	Sodium thiocyanate		13
64-17-5	Ethanol		13
10604-69-0	Ammonium acrylate		13
68953-58-2	Quaternary ammonium compounds, bis(hydrogenated tallow alkyl)dimethyl, salts with bentonite	no image	12
9004-62-0	Hydroxyethylcellulose	no image	12
61723-83-9	Polyoxyethylene sorbitol tetraoleate	no image	12
74-87-3	Chloromethane		11
67762-90-7	Siloxanes and Silicones, di-Me, reaction products with silica	no image	8
93-83-4	Oleic acid diethanolamide		8
10043-52-4	Calcium chloride		8
112-88-9	1-Octadecene		8
9003-05-8	Polyacrylamide		7
139-33-3	Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, disodium salt		7
61791-26-2	PEG-10 Hydrogenated tallow amine	no image	7
9004-82-4	alpha-Sulfo-omega-(dodecyloxy)poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) sodium salt		7
150-38-9	Trisodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate		7
1310-58-3	Potassium hydroxide		6
67-56-1	Methanol		6
66455-14-9	Alcohols, C12-13, ethoxylated	no image	6
7446-09-5	Sulfur dioxide		5
7647-01-0	Hydrochloric acid		5
7758-98-7	Copper sulfate		5
111-46-6	Diethylene glycol		5
111-76-2	2-Butoxyethanol		5
78330-21-9	Alcohols, C11-14-isoalcohols, C13-rich, ethoxylated	no image	5
556-67-2	Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane		5
541-02-6	Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane		5
540-97-6	Dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane		5
8013-01-2	Yeast extract	no image	4
10361-65-6	Phosphoric acid, ammonium salt (1:3)		4
14808-60-7	Quartz (SiO2)	no image	4
7487-88-9	Magnesium sulfate anhydrous		4
194041-65-1	None		4
7446-19-7	Zinc sulfate monohydrate		4
486-66-8	7,4′-Dihydroxyisoflavone		4
67-03-8	Thiamine hydrochloride		4
7631-95-0	Sodium molybdate (Na2MoO4)		4
7778-80-5	Potassium sulfate		4
7758-99-8	Copper(II) sulfate, pentahydrate		4
7705-08-0	Ferric chloride		4
10043-35-3	Boric acid (H3BO3)		4
8002-26-4	Tall oil	no image	3
9000-30-0	alpha-D-Galactopyrano-beta-D-mannopyranan	no image	3
64-02-8	Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt		3
104-55-2	3-Phenylprop-2-enal		3
68410-62-8	Ethoxylated naphthenic acids	no image	3
67-63-0	Isopropanol		3
65071-95-6	Tall oil, ethoxylated	no image	3
127087-87-0	Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl),alpha-(4-nonylphenyl)-omega-hydroxy-,branched	no image	3
13709-94-9	Potassium metaborate		3
15619-48-4	1-Benzylquinolinium chloride		3
61788-62-3	Amines, dicoco alkylmethyl	no image	3
57-13-6	Urea		3
71050-62-9	2-Propenoic acid, polymer with sodium phosphinate	no image	2
71011-25-1	Quaternary ammonium compounds, benzyl(hydrogenated tallow alkyl)dimethyl, bis(hydrogenated tallow alkyl)dimethylammonium salt with bentonite	no image	2
108-32-7	Propylene carbonate		2
110-17-8	Fumaric acid		2
9004-67-5	Methyl cellulose	no image	2
1319-33-1	Ulexite	no image	2
25038-72-6	Vinylidene chloride/methylacrylate copolymer	no image	2
98-86-2	Acetophenone		2
7681-82-5	Sodium iodide		2
61790-12-3	Fatty acids, tall-oil	no image	2
7722-76-1	Ammonium phosphate		2
68990-47-6	Fatty acids, tall-oil, reaction products with diethylenetriamine, maleic anhydride, tetraethylenepentamine and triethylenetetramine	no image	2
68439-51-0	Alcohols, C12-14, ethoxylated propoxylated	no image	2
64743-02-8	Alkenes, C>10 alpha-	no image	1
94525-01-6	Aspartic acid, homopolymer, sodium salt	no image	1
104-76-7	2-Ethyl-1-hexanol		1
68966-36-9	Amines, polyethylenepoly-, ethoxylated, phosphonomethylated	no image	1
9004-96-0	Poly(oxyethylene) monoleate		1
37288-54-3	Endo-1,4-.beta.-mannanase	no image	1
2836-32-0	Glycolic acid sodium salt		1
1303-96-4	Borax (B4Na2O7.10H2O)	no image	1
629-73-2	1-Hexadecene		1
1338-43-8	Sorbitan, mono-(9Z)-9-octadecenoate		1
13446-12-3	Ammonium hydrogen phosphonate		1
57-55-6	1,2-Propylene glycol		1
3252-43-5	Dibromoacetonitrile		1

The numbers in this post reflect a FracFocus data set downloaded in January 2025. For more up-to-date statistics, visit this link.

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Endnotes

1. Open-FF is a public service project, independent of FracFocus, that aims to foster better understanding of chemical uses of the fracking industry by organizing and analyzing chemical disclosures of FracFocus. To see company-specific information about Marathon Oil, visit this page.
2. The values that are omitted are in the “PercentHFJob” data field which represents the percentage (by mass) of the total fracking fluid. This number is usually less that 1% but because the mass of the total fluid is enormous – often greater that 100 million pounds – the actual mass of the chemical component can be quite large.
3. The numbers in this post reflect a FracFocus data set downloaded in January 2025. For more up-to-date statistics, visit this link.
4. Title image credit: Becky Mansfield, modified by author
5. Chemical images credit: EPA Comptox