Discovery Natural Resources : 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 Discovery Natural Resources published 140 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.

Discovery Natural Resources omissions

We’ve found many such data omissions (2) in the disclosures of the operating company, Discovery Natural Resources LLC. As of this date, we’ve found 140 disclosures with at least one omission, or 52.6% 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. Discovery Natural Resources LLC is highlighted in orange. Clearly a small fraction of companies account for much of the lacking records and Discovery Natural Resources LLC is part of that club.

Which states?

These flawed disclosures are for fracking jobs exclusively in Texas.

Which chemicals?

The following table lists the materials for which quantity was omitted and how many records of Discovery Natural Resources LLC were affected.

CASRN	Name	Molecular structure	Number of missing values
67-56-1	Methanol		92
108-20-3	Isopropyl ether		84
111-46-6	Diethylene glycol		84
75-07-0	Acetaldehyde		84
71-23-8	1-Propanol		84
68513-87-1	Tar bases, quinoline derivs.	no image	84
12125-02-9	Ammonium chloride		68
79-06-1	Acrylamide		62
25987-30-8	2-Propenoic acid, polymer with 2-propenamide, sodium salt	no image	55
9000-30-0	alpha-D-Galactopyrano-beta-D-mannopyranan	no image	53
78330-21-9	Alcohols, C11-14-isoalcohols, C13-rich, ethoxylated	no image	51
9082-00-2	Poly(propyleneoxy/ethyleneoxy)glycerol	no image	45
52624-57-4	Ethoxylated, propoxylated trimethylolpropane	no image	45
7786-30-3	Magnesium dichloride		39
7447-40-7	Potassium chloride		39
10043-52-4	Calcium chloride		39
7664-93-9	Sulfuric acid		33
9016-45-9	Nonylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol		24
1302-78-9	Bentonite	no image	20
110-44-1	2E,4E-Hexadienoic acid		18
11138-66-2	Corn sugar gum	no image	18
63148-62-9	Siloxanes and Silicones, di-Me	no image	18
532-32-1	Sodium benzoate		18
7647-01-0	Hydrochloric acid		16
10604-69-0	Ammonium acrylate		15
26100-47-0	Ammonium acrylate-acrylamide copolymer	no image	15
1338-41-6	Anhydrosorbitol stearate	no image	13
67-48-1	2-Hydroxy-N,N,N-trimethylethan-1-aminium chloride		13
9004-99-3	Polyethylene glycol monostearate		13
7664-38-2	Phosphoric acid		13
64742-47-8	Distillates (petroleum), hydrotreated light	no image	10
1310-73-2	Sodium hydroxide		9
68002-97-1	Ethoxylated C10-16 alcohols	no image	8
27306-79-2	Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), alpha-tetradecyl-omega-hydroxy-	no image	6
7631-86-9	Silica		5
79-14-1	Glycolic acid		5
68551-12-2	Alcohols, C12-16, ethoxylated	no image	5
9002-92-0	Polyoxyethylene dodecyl mono ether		5
25085-02-3	Acrylamide-sodium acrylate copolymer	no image	5
9005-67-8	Polysorbate 60	no image	5
631-61-8	Ammonium acetate		5
1338-43-8	Sorbitan, mono-(9Z)-9-octadecenoate		5
65997-18-4	Frits, chemicals	no image	4
64-02-8	Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tetrasodium salt		3
127-09-3	Sodium acetate		3
1120-21-4	Undecane		2
108-32-7	Propylene carbonate		2
107-21-1	Ethylene glycol		2
68953-58-2	Quaternary ammonium compounds, bis(hydrogenated tallow alkyl)dimethyl, salts with bentonite	no image	2
1310-58-3	Potassium hydroxide		2
64742-55-8	Distillates, petroleum, hydrotreated light paraffinic	no image	2
56-81-5	Glycerol		2
15220-87-8	Propylene pentamer		2

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 Discovery Natural Resources LLC, 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