Magcobar

Magcobar was the drilling-mud division of Dresser Industries, based in Houston. Union Carbide's papers show that it bought asbestos drilling-mud additives, including Union Carbide's Visbestos and Super Visbestos, and that Union Carbide packaged some of its Calidria asbestos for Magcobar under the name Visquik. Dresser's asbestos claims, including claims over drilling muds, are now paid by the DII Industries trust.

Draft. The history on this page was written from the documents in our library and has not yet been reviewed by a person.

History

The name Magcobar comes from the Magnet Cove Barium Corporation. Documents in our library refer to it as a division of Dresser Industries: "Dresser Ind. (Magcobar Div.)" in the minutes of the Asbestos Information Association's board, and "Dresser-Magcobar" elsewhere.¹⁴ At the association's board meeting of June 10, 1976, John W. Hollingsworth of the Magcobar division was among the directors present.¹ In 1976 the division was also among the companies that endorsed the association's comments to OSHA on a proposed new asbestos standard.⁷ Dresser-Magcobar is on the attendee list of a Johns-Manville "Asbestos & Health" meeting for customers held in Houston on September 25, 1974.⁸

The one Magcobar package in our picture collection is for Oilfaze, a "primary emulsifier and stabilizer for Oilfaze systems," with a typed note giving trademark registration No. 939,365, dated August 1, 1972.² The package front, as photographed, does not mention asbestos.²

Asbestos in drilling mud

Union Carbide sold its Calidria chrysotile to the drilling industry through a distributor, Montello, Inc., of Oklahoma.⁴⁹ A February 1971 Union Carbide call report on Montello says that both IMCO and Magcobar "have bought Visbestos and Super Visbestos regularly," and it discusses stocks of Imcobest and Visquick, which it calls "proprietary brand names."⁴ A 1973 report of a Union Carbide visit to a Japanese company, Telnite, sketches how Super Visbestos reached drilling companies, with Montello, Dresser-Magcobar and the name "Visquik" among the routes; the same report gives drilling mud as about 5,000 tons a year of U.S. chrysotile use, marked "very small."¹⁰ A November 1973 call report appears to say that another asbestos producer, Atlas, had recently bought a carload of Visquick bags for Magcobar (the scan's text is jumbled at that point), and says that Dresser-Magcobar and Exxon had a joint program using an "impinger opening system."⁹

In a 2021 Texas appeals decision, Neely v. Union Carbide Corp., the court quoted Union Carbide's interrogatory answer that it "packaged. . . very small amounts [of Calidria asbestos] for Dresser-Magcobar under the trade name Visquik."⁵

Silane-treated asbestos and the move away from asbestos

In March 1975 a Union Carbide report said that Dresser had scheduled a field test of an oil-based mud and that, as far as Union Carbide knew, Magcobar "intended to buy SVB through Montello and make their own silane treated material."¹¹ In March 1979 Union Carbide met Dresser's drilling-fluids staff in Houston, among them Paul Wells, Magcobar's manager of research and engineering.³ Union Carbide's call report says Dresser ordered about 20,000 pounds of Union Carbide's RG-600 asbestos.³ The same report says that "for health/regulatory reasons" Dresser had removed asbestos from PC-OTA, its additive for oil-base muds, and was using an amine-treated bentonite that it said was "no good" at the high temperatures of deeper wells.³ It records that Dresser was convinced a silane-treated mineral fiber covered by its patent would not be classed as asbestos, planned animal and other toxicity tests, and had been in touch with OSHA and had "written encouragement" from Eula Bingham to proceed; the November 1979 report says Dresser had not yet pressed OSHA for written confirmation.³ A November 1979 call report says Dresser's compounder had worked out most of the problems of silane-treating asbestos.³

Bankruptcy and trust

Dresser Industries' asbestos liabilities were resolved in the DII Industries bankruptcy, which our trust page dates to 2003, with the trust following in 2005.⁶ That page says the trust pays claims over Dresser equipment and over the asbestos-bearing drilling muds used in the oil and gas fields; it does not mention Magcobar by name.⁶ The page says Dresser supplied drilling-mud additives "sold under names like Visbestos and Super Visbestos"; the Union Carbide papers cited above call Visbestos and Super Visbestos Union Carbide products that Magcobar bought.⁶⁴

References

1. Asbestos Information Association/North America Board of Directors Minutes, December 6, 1973 (with first page of June 10, 1976 minutes), AIA-116, p. 3
2. Package: OILFAZE primary emulsifier and stabilizer (Magcobar)
3. J. E. Walsh Customer Call Reports on Dresser Industries Regarding RG-600 and Silane-Treated Asbestos Fiber (1979), UC-572, pp. 2–3
4. H. B. Rhodes Call Report on Telecon with Ken Campbell of Montello, Inc. (February 19, 1971), UC-311, p. 2
5. Neely ex rel. Estate of Goehring v. Union Carbide Corp. (Tex. App. 2021)
6. DII Industries Asbestos Trust: Halliburton and Harbison-Walker Claims
7. R. H. Mereness (AIA) to OSHA Docket Officer, Docket H-033 (1976), AIA-115, p. 2
8. Johns-Manville Corporation, A Condensation of Environmental Facts on Asbestos and Health, with Customer Seminar Attendee Lists (1974), AIA-112, pp. 58–59
9. H. B. Rhodes and J. L. Myers Report of Call on Montello, Inc., Calidria Distributor to the Drilling Industry (November 28, 1973), UC-4149, pp. 2, 4
10. Tomoe Engineering Call Report on J. L. Myers' Visit to Telnite Co. (February 23, 1973), UC-3648, pp. 1–2
11. Union Carbide Metals Division Call Reports and Reports of Call on Distributor Montello, Inc. (1973–1984), UC-709, pp. 3–4

In our library

1 document in our library name Magcobar, by collection.

Other library documents (1)

• Package: OILFAZE primary emulsifier and stabilizer (Magcobar) (publisher)

In the Union Carbide documents

Magcobar is named in 3 Union Carbide documents dated 1973 to 1979 (3 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. All are published in our collection.

• Tomoe Engineering Call Report on J. L. Myers' Visit to Telnite Co. on Asbestos Types and Drilling Mud Use (1973) UC-3648 (mentioned)
• J. E. Walsh Customer Call Reports on Dresser Industries Regarding RG-600 and Silane-Treated Asbestos Fiber (1979) UC-572 (mentioned)
• Customer Call Reports on Dresser Industries: RG-600 Asbestos Sale and Silane-Treated Asbestos (1979 and 1977) UC-736 (mentioned)

Where this comes from

This page brings together every document in our library that names Magcobar, across collections. Titles and affiliations are taken from the documents themselves, and units and subsidiaries are grouped under the company they belong to.