Summary: FracFocus disclosures that omit fundamental quantity information undermine the integrity of the fracking chemical data. Open-FF (1) found that the operator PDC Energy published 176 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.
PDC Energy omissions
We’ve found many such data omissions (2) in the disclosures of the operating company, PDC Energy. As of this date, we’ve found 176 disclosures with at least one omission, or 9.9% 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. PDC Energy is highlighted in orange. While PDC Energy is not in the top 25% for percent of disclosure, it one of the handful of companies with more that 1,000 records without quantity data. Clearly a small fraction of companies account for much of the lacking records and PDC Energy 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 | 111 |
| Colorado | 49 |
| Ohio | 16 |
Which chemicals?
The following table lists the materials for which quantity was omitted and how many records of PDC Energy were affected.
| CASRN | Name | Molecular structure | Number of missing values |
|---|---|---|---|
| 71-23-8 | 1-Propanol |  | 90 |
| 111-46-6 | Diethylene glycol |  | 90 |
| 75-07-0 | Acetaldehyde |  | 90 |
| 108-20-3 | Isopropyl ether |  | 90 |
| 68513-87-1 | Tar bases, quinoline derivs. | no image | 90 |
| 52624-57-4 | Ethoxylated, propoxylated trimethylolpropane | no image | 66 |
| 9082-00-2 | Poly(propyleneoxy/ethyleneoxy)glycerol | no image | 66 |
| 9003-05-8 | Polyacrylamide |  | 50 |
| 7447-40-7 | Potassium chloride |  | 49 |
| 7786-30-3 | Magnesium dichloride |  | 48 |
| 7664-93-9 | Sulfuric acid |  | 48 |
| 10043-52-4 | Calcium chloride |  | 48 |
| 67-56-1 | Methanol |  | 42 |
| 12125-02-9 | Ammonium chloride |  | 41 |
| 35657-77-3 | [[(Phosphonomethyl)imino]bis[6,1-hexanediylnitrilobis(methylene)]]tetrakis-phosphonic acid, sodium salt (1:x) | no image | 27 |
| 68002-97-1 | Ethoxylated C10-16 alcohols | no image | 24 |
| 1302-78-9 | Bentonite | no image | 24 |
| 79-06-1 | Acrylamide |  | 21 |
| 25987-30-8 | 2-Propenoic acid, polymer with 2-propenamide, sodium salt | no image | 21 |
| 7647-01-0 | Hydrochloric acid |  | 15 |
| 1310-73-2 | Sodium hydroxide |  | 10 |
| 67762-90-7 | Siloxanes and Silicones, di-Me, reaction products with silica | no image | 9 |
| 556-67-2 | Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane |  | 9 |
| 541-02-6 | Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane |  | 9 |
| 540-97-6 | Dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane |  | 9 |
| 64-17-5 | Ethanol |  | 6 |
| 9003-35-4 | Bakelite | no image | 5 |
| 9002-84-0 | Polytetrafluoroethylene |  | 5 |
| 68647-72-3 | Terpenes and Terpenoids, sweet Orange-oil | no image | 5 |
| 127-09-3 | Sodium acetate |  | 4 |
| 50-00-0 | Formaldehyde |  | 4 |
| 14808-60-7 | Quartz (SiO2) | no image | 3 |
| 100-97-0 | Methenamine |  | 3 |
| 94266-47-4 | Citrus extract | no image | 3 |
| 127087-87-0 | Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl),alpha-(4-nonylphenyl)-omega-hydroxy-,branched | no image | 3 |
| 7757-82-6 | Sodium sulfate anhydrous |  | 3 |
| 9000-30-0 | alpha-D-Galactopyrano-beta-D-mannopyranan | no image | 2 |
| 67-63-0 | Isopropanol |  | 2 |
| 64742-47-8 | Distillates (petroleum), hydrotreated light | no image | 2 |
| 111-30-8 | Glutaraldehyde |  | 2 |
| 95-63-6 | 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene |  | 2 |
| 78330-21-9 | Alcohols, C11-14-isoalcohols, C13-rich, ethoxylated | no image | 2 |
| 9005-65-6 | Polysorbate 80 | no image | 1 |
| 91-20-3 | Naphthalene |  | 1 |
| 93-83-4 | Oleic acid diethanolamide |  | 1 |
| 100-44-7 | Benzyl chloride |  | 1 |
| 7783-20-2 | Ammonium sulfate |  | 1 |
| 7775-27-1 | Sodium persulfate |  | 1 |
| 77-92-9 | Citric acid |  | 1 |
| 68527-49-1 | Thiourea, polymer with formaldehyde and 1-phenylethanone | no image | 1 |
| 68439-51-0 | Alcohols, C12-14, ethoxylated propoxylated | no image | 1 |
| 64742-94-5 | Solvent naphtha, petroleum, heavy arom. | no image | 1 |
| 64-18-6 | Formic acid |  | 1 |
| 631-61-8 | Ammonium acetate |  | 1 |
| 31512-74-0 | Polyquaternium 42 |  | 1 |
| 14807-96-6 | Talc | no image | 1 |
| 1338-43-8 | Sorbitan, mono-(9Z)-9-octadecenoate |  | 1 |
| 107-19-7 | Propargyl alcohol |  | 1 |
| 98072-94-7 | Ilmenite (FeTiO3), conc. | no image | 1 |
The numbers in this post reflect a FracFocus data set downloaded in January 2025. For more up-to-date statistics, visit this link.
Endnotes
- 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 PDC Energy, visit this page.
- 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.
- The numbers in this post reflect a FracFocus data set downloaded in January 2025. For more up-to-date statistics, visit this link.
- Title image credit: Becky Mansfield, modified by author
- Chemical images credit: EPA Comptox