Summary: FracFocus disclosures that omit fundamental quantity information undermine the integrity of the fracking chemical data. Open-FF (1) found that the operator EP Energy published 416 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.
EP Energy omissions
We’ve found many such data omissions (2) in the disclosures of the operating company, EP Energy. As of this date, we’ve found 416 disclosures with at least one omission, or 28.7% 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. EP Energy is highlighted in orange. Clearly a small fraction of companies account for much of the lacking records and EP 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 | 287 |
| Utah | 127 |
| Louisiana | 2 |
Which chemicals?
The following table lists the materials for which quantity was omitted and how many records of EP Energy were affected.
| CASRN | Name | Molecular structure | Number of missing values |
|---|---|---|---|
| 107-21-1 | Ethylene glycol |  | 113 |
| 1310-58-3 | Potassium hydroxide |  | 68 |
| 14808-60-7 | Quartz (SiO2) | no image | 55 |
| 111-76-2 | 2-Butoxyethanol |  | 54 |
| 67-63-0 | Isopropanol |  | 52 |
| 100-44-7 | Benzyl chloride |  | 51 |
| 1303-96-4 | Borax (B4Na2O7.10H2O) | no image | 47 |
| 9000-30-0 | alpha-D-Galactopyrano-beta-D-mannopyranan | no image | 47 |
| 8002-09-3 | Pine oils | no image | 41 |
| 107-19-7 | Propargyl alcohol |  | 41 |
| 64742-94-5 | Solvent naphtha, petroleum, heavy arom. | no image | 41 |
| 27176-87-0 | Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid |  | 41 |
| 26027-38-3 | 26-(4-Nonylphenoxy)-3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24-octaoxahexacosan-1-ol |  | 40 |
| 7446-09-5 | Sulfur dioxide |  | 29 |
| 69011-36-5 | Polyoxyethylene trimethyldecyl alcohol | no image | 21 |
| 64-19-7 | Acetic acid |  | 21 |
| 64742-47-8 | Distillates (petroleum), hydrotreated light | no image | 21 |
| 141-43-5 | Ethanolamine |  | 18 |
| 10043-35-3 | Boric acid (H3BO3) |  | 18 |
| 9003-06-9 | Acrylamide-acrylic acid copolymer | no image | 16 |
| 64-17-5 | Ethanol |  | 14 |
| 7727-54-0 | Diammonium peroxydisulfate |  | 12 |
| 7173-51-5 | Didecyldimethylammonium chloride |  | 11 |
| 77-92-9 | Citric acid |  | 10 |
| 7772-98-7 | Sodium thiosulfate |  | 9 |
| 56-93-9 | Benzyltrimethylammonium chloride |  | 8 |
| 111-87-5 | 1-Octanol |  | 7 |
| 75-21-8 | Ethylene oxide |  | 7 |
| 57-55-6 | 1,2-Propylene glycol |  | 7 |
| 67-56-1 | Methanol |  | 7 |
| 68551-12-2 | Alcohols, C12-16, ethoxylated | no image | 7 |
| 72480-70-7 | Tar bases, quinoline derivatives, benzyl chloride-quaternized | no image | 6 |
| 68-12-2 | N,N-Dimethylformamide |  | 6 |
| 104-55-2 | 3-Phenylprop-2-enal |  | 6 |
| 123-91-1 | 1,4-Dioxane |  | 6 |
| 75-07-0 | Acetaldehyde |  | 6 |
| 7447-40-7 | Potassium chloride |  | 6 |
| 68412-54-4 | Polyoxyethylene branched-C9-alkylphenol | no image | 6 |
| 29638-69-5 | Potassium antimonate |  | 6 |
| 112-30-1 | 1-Decanol |  | 6 |
| 7758-19-2 | Sodium chlorite |  | 6 |
| 78-40-0 | Triethyl phosphate |  | 6 |
| 127-08-2 | Potassium acetate |  | 6 |
| 7447-39-4 | Copper(II) chloride |  | 5 |
| 584-08-7 | Potassium carbonate |  | 5 |
| 9043-30-5 | Polyoxyethylene isotridecyl ether |  | 5 |
| 7647-01-0 | Hydrochloric acid |  | 4 |
| 68953-58-2 | Quaternary ammonium compounds, bis(hydrogenated tallow alkyl)dimethyl, salts with bentonite | no image | 4 |
| 68585-34-2 | Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), alpha-sulfo-omega-hydroxy-, C10-16-alkyl ethers, sodium salts | no image | 4 |
| 10222-01-2 | 2,2-Dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide |  | 4 |
| 9014-01-1 | Subtilisin | no image | 4 |
| 68442-77-3 | 2-Butenediamide, (2E)-, N,N’-bis[2-(4,5-dihydro-2-nortall-oil alkyl-1H-imidazol-1-yl)ethyl] derivs. | no image | 4 |
| 90622-53-0 | Alkanes, C12-26-branched and linear | no image | 4 |
| 629-59-4 | Tetradecane |  | 4 |
| 25322-68-3 | Polyethylene glycol |  | 4 |
| 112-40-3 | Dodecane |  | 4 |
| 1319-33-1 | Ulexite | no image | 4 |
| 61790-12-3 | Fatty acids, tall-oil | no image | 4 |
| 629-50-5 | Tridecane |  | 4 |
| 108-32-7 | Propylene carbonate |  | 4 |
| 1120-21-4 | Undecane |  | 4 |
| 68002-97-1 | Ethoxylated C10-16 alcohols | no image | 4 |
| 104-76-7 | 2-Ethyl-1-hexanol |  | 3 |
| 111-30-8 | Glutaraldehyde |  | 3 |
| 7647-15-6 | Sodium bromide |  | 3 |
| 9003-35-4 | Bakelite | no image | 3 |
| 9003-11-6 | Poloxalene | no image | 3 |
| 3252-43-5 | Dibromoacetonitrile |  | 3 |
| 26836-07-7 | Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid monoethanolamine salt | no image | 3 |
| 112-53-8 | 1-Dodecanol |  | 2 |
| 7664-38-2 | Phosphoric acid |  | 2 |
| 52-51-7 | Bronopol |  | 2 |
| 2687-96-9 | 1-Dodecyl-2-pyrrolidinone |  | 2 |
| 68439-50-9 | Alcohols, C12-14, ethoxylated | no image | 1 |
| 84133-50-6 | Alcohols, C12-14-secondary, ethoxylated | no image | 1 |
| 108-24-7 | Acetic anhydride |  | 1 |
| 68609-68-7 | 1-Hexanol, 2-ethyl-, manuf. of, by-products from, distn. residues | no image | 1 |
| 56-81-5 | Glycerol |  | 1 |
| 75-12-7 | Formamide |  | 1 |
| 9003-04-7 | Sodium polyacrylate |  | 1 |
| 13446-12-3 | Ammonium hydrogen phosphonate |  | 1 |
| 10377-60-3 | Magnesium nitrate |  | 1 |
| 2682-20-4 | 2-Methyl-3(2H)-isothiazolone |  | 1 |
| 79-06-1 | Acrylamide |  | 1 |
| 78330-21-9 | Alcohols, C11-14-isoalcohols, C13-rich, ethoxylated | no image | 1 |
| 7786-30-3 | Magnesium dichloride |  | 1 |
| 15619-48-4 | 1-Benzylquinolinium chloride |  | 1 |
| 7631-90-5 | Sodium bisulfite |  | 1 |
| 26172-55-4 | 5-Chloro-2-methyl-3(2H)-isothiazolone |  | 1 |
| 7727-21-1 | Potassium persulfate |  | 1 |
| 68410-62-8 | Ethoxylated naphthenic acids | 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 EP 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
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