By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: August 30, 2010

FAIRMOUNT TWP. – From using non-toxic oil for drilling to installing three levels of blowout prevention, Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc. is trying to ensure nothing happens at its first exploratory gas well site that isn’t supposed to.

During a media tour of the Buda well site off Route 118 in Fairmount Township on Friday, Encana spokeswoman Wendy Wiedenbeck and Owen Stone, one of the company’s essential personnel who lives in one of the on-site trailers, showed the steps the company is taking.

“There are protocols in place to prevent incidents from happening. Owen’s job is to prevent those incidents,” Wiedenbeck said.

By state standards, Encana has been successful so far. Personnel from the Department of Environmental Protection’s Oil and Gas bureau perform unscheduled formal regulatory inspections at natural gas well sites to assess conditions before and during drilling.

The Fairmount Township drilling site has had several inspections, and Encana has no violations, DEP spokesman Mark Carmon said.

The department’s oil and gas division will also inspect Encana’s second exploratory natural gas well site on Zosh Road in Lake Township prior to drilling, he said.

When the drilling is complete at the Fairmount Township site, the rig will go to the Lake Township well pad, Wiedenbeck said.

That will take a few more weeks, she said. Encana’s drilling contractor, Oklahoma-based Horizontal Well Drillers, have completed the vertical portion of the Buda well, and will next be drilling horizontally in a southwestern direction, Wiedenbeck said.

Before doing so, Encana took core samples to see what lies beneath the surface. The natural-gas-rich Marcellus Shale is about a mile and a half underground, according to Stone.

Measurement tools similar to a global positioning system that are used while drilling allow Encana to “know where we’re going at all times,” Wiedenbeck said. The company isn’t allowed to go beneath land it hasn’t leased.

“We did a lot of science on this well,” she said.

But only when the well is complete and the results are reviewed will Encana have any idea of the natural gas production in the area, which will influence the company’s plans to move forward with additional wells, Wiedenbeck said.

Precautions and backups

The drilling rig is hydraulic and can be operated automatically – Stone compared it to a video game – meaning nobody has to be on the rig floor, which cuts down on opportunities for workers to be injured.

The well pad is surrounded by an absorbent cloth, then a thick, durable and impermeable plastic liner was laid and matting boards were set around the well equipment so that in the event of a spill, it can’t run off the pad, Stone said. A “spill shack” behind the well contains materials including pads to soak up fluids and a heavy-duty vacuum.

Underneath the tank of diesel used to fuel the equipment is a plastic “duck pond,” which would contain any fuel that might leak out.

“Almost everything has at least two, and in some cases three, types of containment in the event of a spill,” Stone pointed out.

The well has three blowout preventers. The first one, a “backside stack,” packs off the drill pipe all the way down the hole. The second, a “pipe ram,” hydraulically closes on the drill pipe, Stone said. The third, a “blind ram,” is used as a last resort: it closes and cuts off the pipe, he said.

All three backups are tested at least once every 72 hours. And each of the trailers where the essential personnel stays has a Pason monitor, with a screen that allows them to keep an eye on everything from how much drilling mud is in the tanks to how fast the drill is rotating, Stone said.

“Every physical thing that can happen on that rig is monitored on that Pason,” he said.

Drilling fluid, also called “drilling mud,” is used to clean and cool the drill bit and bring the cuttings up to the surface. Some drilling companies use petroleum-based substances such as diesel fuel.

Air and fresh water were used on the vertical well, Wiedenbeck said. For the horizontal drilling, Encana is using ABS 40, which the material safety data sheet at the site lists as a synthetic food-grade oil.

Stone said it is similar to baby oil. The only additives are barite for weight and clay for viscosity, he said, noting that all the additives are naturally occurring, non-toxic and not environmentally harmful.

The cuttings – material pulled up to the surface while the well is being drilled – are dried out and 99 percent of the oil is removed for reuse on the next well or to sell back to the company, Stone said. The cuttings are tested to ensure they meet state standards for disposal before DEP will allow them to be taken to a landfill, Wiedenbeck said.

The well itself has several strings of casings – layers of steel pipe and cement – to protect the shallow aquifers, Wiedenbeck said. They are run to 100 feet below any known water well, she said.

The cement is tested for compression strength, and DEP is “very diligent” about witnessing that the cement goes to the surface, Stone said. Wiedenbeck said the company has to do integrity testing, cement bond logging and pressure testing.

During the drilling, Encana has been taking water samples from nearby Ricketts Glen state park and nearby residents, Wiedenbeck said. There haven’t been any changes, she said.

Keeping it clean

According to Stone and Wiedenbeck, Encana prides itself on keeping its drilling sites in good shape.

Unofficial aerial photographs taken on random days and times show the Buda well site appears orderly and organized even when the company isn’t giving tours or getting inspections.

“We will continue to monitor both sites and ensure it stays that way,” Carmon said.

He said how a company prepares a drilling site and how they operate gives DEP an idea of what to expect. If the site is sloppy, officials “might want to keep an eye on it.”

Factors include whether the subcontractors know what they are doing, and whether the natural gas company is supervising them, Carmon said. For example, some of the issues with Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. were caused by contractors and even delivery people, he said.

“Given the nature of this business, the company and all its contractors and subcontractors have to be vigilant every minute,” Carmon said. “It’s the law, but it’s also their obligation, period.” He added, “Hopefully Encana will continue along that line.”

If people see anything unusual at a natural gas drilling site, they can contact DEP’s oil and gas office in Scranton, Carmon said.

“Everything is dependent on them continuing to do a good job. That’s they key,” he said of Encana.

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072

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