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We pursue third-party injury claims against the operators, contractors, and equipment companies whose negligence caused the explosion. Robert White and Greta Braker were born and raised in Texas, and they know how quickly companies move to control the story after a fire.
Call Braker White at 432-580-5421 for a 100% Free Consultation, with No Costly Upfront Fees.
Put An Award Winning Lawyer On Your Side!
Why Families Choose Braker White After an Oilfield Explosion
Braker White is based in downtown Odessa at 230 W 3rd St and represents injured workers across the Permian Basin. After an explosion, the companies involved bring in investigators and oilfield accident lawyers quickly, and you need a local team working just as fast for you.
What our clients get:
- Attorneys Robert White and Greta Braker, both born and raised in Texas
- A firm with 235+ Google reviews at a 4.6 rating
- Past results including $4,500,000 in a big-truck accident case, $1,129,236 in an auto accident case, and $1,003,554 in a truck accident case
- A 100% Free Consultation and No Costly Upfront Fees
We are aggressive with insurers because burn cases are expensive, and insurers know it. Past results do not predict future outcomes, and every case depends on its own facts.
If an explosion hurt you or took someone you love, call 432-580-5421 for a free case review.
What Causes Oilfield Explosions in the Permian Basin?
Most Permian oilfield explosions happen when flammable gas or vapor meets an ignition source that should have been controlled. OSHA's oil and gas hazard guidance treats fires and explosions as a core well site danger, and the same few failures show up again and again.
The explosion and fire cases we see most often start with:
- Well blowouts and loss of well control that release gas and fluids at the surface
- Flash fires from hydrocarbon vapor released at tanks, separators, or open hatches
- Tank battery and separator explosions
- Hot work, such as welding or cutting, done near gas that was never properly tested or purged
- Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and natural gas releases that reach an ignition source
- Pressure vessel and line ruptures that throw debris and feed a fire
Each of these failures leaves a different trail of permits, test records, and equipment history, and that trail usually leads to more than one company.
Blowouts During Drilling and Completion
A blowout during drilling or completion usually points to the well plan, the crew managing pressure, and the well control equipment. The operator, the drilling or completion contractor, and the companies that built or serviced the blowout preventer can all come under scrutiny.
Tank Battery and Separator Fires
Tank batteries and separators collect vapor that can ignite from static, a vehicle engine, a spark from a tool, or nearby hot work. These fires often raise questions about venting, vapor control equipment, grounding, and whether the operator kept ignition sources away from the tanks.
Hot Work Near Live Gas
Safe welding and cutting near tanks, lines, or wellheads generally calls for gas testing, a work permit, and a fire watch under federal workplace rules and standard industry practice.
When a service company or operator skips those steps to save time, the resulting flash fire can often be traced to a missing permit, an untested atmosphere, or a supervisor who approved the work anyway.
How Third-Party Claims Work After an Oilfield Explosion
An injured worker can pursue a negligence claim against a company other than their employer when that company helped cause the explosion.
That claim is separate from any benefits available through the worker's own employer, and it is often where the full value of a burn or blast injury case is found, although benefits already paid can affect how a recovery is divided.
The table below shows the companies that most often share responsibility.
| Party | Typical Role on Site | How Negligence Shows Up |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | Owns or runs the lease and sets site safety rules | Ignoring gas readings, rushing work, skipping hazard reviews |
| Drilling contractor | Runs the rig and well control during drilling | Poor well control practices or crew training |
| Service company | Handles completion, flowback, welding, or maintenance work | Unsafe hot work, bad connections, skipped gas testing |
| Equipment manufacturer | Designs and builds valves, vessels, and safety devices | Defective design, manufacturing flaws, missing warnings |
| Well-site supervisor | Directs work for the operator, often as a consultant | Ordering work to continue despite a known hazard |
Sorting out each company's role takes contracts, daily reports, and testimony, and the companies rarely volunteer that information.
Service-Company Work on a Shared Pad
Many Permian workers are employed by service companies rather than the operator, and a single pad may host several companies at once.
That structure is why an explosion caused by one crew's shortcut can injure workers from three or four different employers, and why each of those workers may have claims against the companies that caused it.
How Indemnity Agreements Affect Who Pays
Most of these companies are tied together by master service agreements (MSAs) with indemnity clauses that decide which company covers certain losses.
Texas limits some of those clauses in agreements tied to oil and gas wells, but the contracts mainly decide which insurer pays, not whether you can bring a claim.
Burn Injuries and the Damages That Follow
Burn and blast injuries often carry some of the highest long-term costs of any oilfield case, because recovery can stretch over years. Treatment may begin at Medical Center Hospital in Odessa or another trauma facility and continue long after discharge.
Under Texas law, an injured person may seek compensation for losses such as:
- Past and future medical care, including repeated surgeries, skin grafting, and rehabilitation
- Lost wages and lost earning capacity when a worker cannot return to the field
- Physical pain and mental anguish
- Disfigurement, including permanent scarring
- Physical impairment that limits daily life
Proving these losses usually takes medical records, testimony from treating doctors, and economic analysis of what the injury will cost over a lifetime.
Planning for Future Care
Serious burn injuries often call for treatment long after the hospital stay ends, including reconstructive procedures, therapy, and adaptive equipment.
A claim that only counts the bills paid so far can leave a family short years later, which is why future care is usually built into the case from the start.
When an Explosion Kills a Worker
When an oilfield explosion is fatal, Texas allows the surviving spouse, children, and parents to bring a wrongful death claim, and the estate may bring a survival claim for what the worker suffered before death. A wrongful death lawyer can explain how these two claims work together and help the family decide who should file.
A wrongful death claim generally must be filed within two years of the date of death, and the deadline for a survival claim can run differently, so an early review matters.
Can You Recover Exemplary Damages After an Oilfield Explosion?
Sometimes. Texas allows exemplary damages, often called punitive damages, when a claimant proves by clear and convincing evidence that the harm resulted from fraud, malice, or gross negligence.
What Gross Negligence Looks Like
Gross negligence means more than a mistake. Under Texas law, it requires an extreme degree of risk that the company actually knew about and still went ahead with, showing conscious indifference to the safety of others.
Examples can include sending a crew into an area with known gas readings or overriding a safety shutdown to keep production moving.
How Texas Caps Exemplary Damages
Under Chapter 41 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, exemplary damages are usually capped at the greater of $200,000 or two times economic damages plus noneconomic damages up to $750,000.
A jury must also be unanimous on both liability for exemplary damages and the amount.
What Evidence Disappears After an Oilfield Explosion?
After a fire, damaged equipment gets hauled off, pads get cleaned up, and crews rotate out within days. The sooner preservation letters go out, the more of the record survives.
The evidence we work to secure includes:
- Incident reports, hot work permits, and job safety analyses
- Gas detector and monitor data from before the explosion
- Railroad Commission filings, including the operator's Statewide Rule 36 certification for H2S operations
- OSHA inspection findings, if an inspection took place
- Equipment maintenance, inspection, and pressure test records
- The damaged valves, vessels, lines, and safety devices themselves
- Photos, drone footage, and statements from workers employed by every company on site
Preservation letters should reach every company that may hold these records, not just the operator.
Why Gas Readings Matter
Under the Railroad Commission's Statewide Rule 36, operators in covered H2S operations must determine hydrogen sulfide concentrations and, above certain thresholds, prepare contingency plans, and those filings can show what a company knew before the fire.
Gas monitor logs and personal detector data can show whether readings climbed before the explosion and whether anyone acted on them. That timeline is often the clearest way to prove a company knew about the danger.
Shared Fault and the Two-Year Deadline
Texas lets an injured worker recover as long as they are not more than 50% responsible, and any recovery shrinks by their share of fault. Most injury claims must be filed within two years.
How Fault Arguments Play Out
Companies often argue that the injured worker lit the torch, opened the hatch, or ignored a gas alarm. Under Texas proportionate responsibility law, if a jury values a case at $1,000,000 and assigns the worker 15%, the recovery becomes $850,000. A finding above 50% bars recovery.
Filing on Time
Most Texas personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years of the injury. Some exceptions can change the deadline, and evidence fades long before the deadline does, so early action matters.
Where Explosion Cases Are Filed
A Texas injury lawsuit is often filed in the county where most of the events happened, so an explosion on an Ector County lease may be heard by one of the district courts at the Ector County Courthouse in Odessa.
Venue rules can allow other counties in some cases, such as where a defendant has its principal Texas office.
FAQs for an Odessa Oilfield Explosion Lawyer
These are the questions we hear most often from Odessa families in the first weeks after a commercial truck wreck.
Can I file a claim if I was burned in a flash fire but did not work for the operator?
Yes, a worker burned in a Texas oilfield flash fire can often bring a claim against the operator or another company whose negligence caused the fire, even if that company was not their employer. The key questions are who controlled the work and who created the hazard.
Who investigates oilfield explosions in Texas?
OSHA may investigate workplace explosions in Texas, and the Railroad Commission oversees oil and gas operations and may inspect the site. Agency findings can be useful evidence, but a civil injury claim is a separate case decided under Texas law.
Can my spouse bring a claim if I was badly burned but survived?
In some Texas cases involving serious injuries, a spouse may have a claim for loss of consortium, which covers the harm to the marriage relationship. Whether that claim applies depends on the severity of the injury and the facts of the case.
What should I keep after an oilfield explosion?
Injured workers in Texas should consider keeping damaged flame-resistant clothing, personal protective equipment, phone photos, and texts or messages about the job. Medical bills, pay stubs, and a simple journal of how the injury affects daily life can also help support a claim later.
Does a safety violation automatically prove the company was negligent?
Not automatically. In a Texas oilfield explosion case, a broken safety rule can be strong evidence of negligence, but the injured person still has to show the violation helped cause the explosion and the resulting injuries.
How long does an oilfield explosion case take in Texas?
Oilfield explosion cases in Texas often take longer than typical injury claims because they involve several companies, engineering analysis, and long-term medical evidence. Some resolve within a year, while others take longer, especially if the case goes to trial.
Standing Up for West Texas Families After an Explosion
Recovering from a burn injury or losing someone in an explosion is hard enough without fighting the companies involved on your own. Braker White can start the investigation, preserve the evidence, and handle the insurers while your family focuses on healing.
Call 432-580-5421 or visit our office at 230 W 3rd St, Odessa, TX 79761 to schedule your 100% Free Consultation. Results depend on the specific facts of each case.