Plains Midstream Announces Planned Maintenance To Resolve The Mercaptan Odour

Plains Midstream will be conducting planned maintenance to resolve the mercaptan odour that has been in the air since Friday.

Beginning at 5:00pm and lasting until approximately 7:00pm, they will be conducting maintenance to aid in removing the residual mercaptan in the system, which will allow them to minimize the risk of future odour events and resume normal operations.

“This action has the potential to create further odour for a short period, after which the mercaptan smell should fully dissipate. We continue to assess air quality hourly and have noted that the previous odour has decreased significantly,” said a Plains Midstream Canada spokesperson.  “We use mercaptan as a preventative safety measure to odourize propane, an otherwise odourless gas. While it has a strong smell, the presence of mercaptan in the air poses little risk to the public.”