08/26/2026
In the Oil & Gas industry, mistakes can be costly
(& deadly). Here’s my fix to a $1M problem.
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) isn't just any gas.
It's a silent, lethal threat.
And it’s sneaky, ruining your sense of smell.
So, after a while, you don’t know it’s still there.
It also can ruin compressors in midstream
facilities if they aren’t rated for H2S…and this one wasn’t.
So, an engineering firm designed and installed
H2S scrubbers upstream to protect the compressors.
These scrubbers were supposed to intercept the
gas, so there’d be no damage. But, there was a problem.
After a year, moisture in the lines turned these
filters into heavy, useless concrete blocks.
The H2S bypassed the filters, and the original
problem was back causing damage to the compressor.
Removing the now-useless filters required
jackhammers and an expensive system shut down.
Now, we had a million-dollar problem–again.
So, I started looking for a more long-term solution.
I talked to people with real-world experience —
operations and maintenance.
And, they had an idea.
Some of them had worked in other facilities
with more robust compressors rated for H2S.
“You could change the internals of the
compressor so it can handle H2S & you don’t need
to have the scrubber filters to remove it.”
So, I looked at the business case.
The H2S-resistant compressors were more expensive.
But, shutdowns, jackhammers, and new filters were too.
Looking at the whole picture, I showed we could
break-even in about 1 year AND make ops safer for the crews.
Everyone wins!
At Proshare Services, we look at problems holistically.
We talk to people with real-world experience.
Find the root cause & treat it.
It’s how we solve million-dollar problems.
How do you lead your teams to find root causes?
