Posts Tagged ‘wild well control’

VICKI SMITH Associated Press Writer
Published: June 7, 2010

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — A crew drilling a natural gas well through an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle hit a pocket of methane gas that ignited, triggering an explosion that burned seven workers, state and company officials said Monday.

The blast created a column of flame that was initially at least 70 feet high, but the rig operator said the site was secure and the fire was about 40 feet high by late morning.

A team from Texas-based Wild Well Control, a company that specializes in rig fires, will decide whether to let the methane burn or try to extinguish the flames, said Kristi Gittins of Dallas,Texas-based Chief Oil and Natural Gas.

The explosion occurred about 1:30 a.m. in a rural area outside Moundsville, about 55 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, and presents no danger to any structures or people, said Bill Hendershot, an inspector with the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Oil and Gas.

The operation was less than a week old: DEP records show a permit was issued June 2 to AB Resources PA LLC of Brecksville, Ohio.

Gittins said AB Resources is the operator of the well, while Chief has a “participation interest.” It is Chief’s responsibility to drill and complete the well, she said.

Chief’s site contractor, Union Drilling of Buckhannon, had drilled the first 1,000 feet of a second well on the property and was preparing to install surface casing when crews apparently hit and ignited the methane, she said.

Crews had drilled through the abandoned Consol Energy mine before without incident, she said.

Methane is a known risk when working near old mines, and the company typically takes a variety of precautions, including venting systems. Gittins could not immediately say what precautions were in place at this site.

“Luckily, our response team got there quickly, secured the area and evacuated the workers,” she said. “From all appearances, there weren’t any life-threatening injuries, so that’s a good thing.”

The seven workers were taken the West Penn Burn Center in Pittsburgh and were in fair condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Five were employed by Union and two worked for BJ Services Co. of Houston, Texas, said Jeff Funke, area director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Charleston office.

A spokesman for Union in Fort Worth, Texas, did not immediately return a telephone message.

The BJ Services workers were among four that had just arrived on site to place the casing, said Gary Flaharty, a spokesman for the parent company, Baker Hughes Inc. of Houston. The crew runs a safety check at the start of each shift and was just preparing to do that when the blast occurred.

Flaharty could not provide any details about the injured employees but said they’re being treated for burns and are expected to survive.

Funke said OSHA learned of the accident shortly after 8 a.m., and two investigators were being dispatched. However, they cannot enter the site and begin work until the fire is out, he said.

OSHA created a program to deal with gas drilling in the vast Marcellus shale fields about five years ago and has been proactively inspecting sites to ensure compliance with safety regulations, he said. The gas reserve is about the size of Greece and lies more than a mile beneath New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

OSHA knew there would be a lot of drilling in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, “and we did our best to get out in front of that curve,” Funke said. “So we’re well-equipped to respond to this.”

About 98 percent of the region’s drilling now involves Marcellus shale, he said.

Gittins, the spokeswoman for Chief, confirmed the company was tapping into the Marcellus reserves. The company has drilled about 75 Marcellus wells in West Virginia and Pennsylvania so far, she said, with about 15 of them in West Virginia.

This was the company’s first major accident, she said.

However, it’s the latest in a string of accidents related to the rapidly growing pursuit of Marcellus gas.

In Pennsylvania, environmental regulators are investigating what caused another well to spew explosive gas and polluted water for about 16 hours last week until it was brought under control.

A crew of eight was evacuated from the Clearfield County site Thursday, but no one was injured. That accident involved EOG Resources Inc. of Houston.

Copyright:  The Scranton Times-Tribune

A company drilling for natural gas says it is already working with local officials.

STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com

Although the community at large hasn’t been privy to it, some local emergency management officials have been working closely with an energy company to draft emergency response plans to address any local natural gas drilling-related catastrophe that might occur.

EnCana Oil & Gas USA is slated to begin drilling a well at a site in Fairmount Township in about a month, and many local residents, officials and emergency responders have become anxious, feeling left-in-the-dark about whether local emergency responders have the equipment, knowledge and protocols in place to handle a drilling-related catastrophe.

But Wendy Wiedenbeck, public and community relations advisor for EnCana, said local firefighters would not be responsible for containing or fighting a gas well fire or gas release at a well site.

“In the event of an incident, local emergency responders will be asked to provide support to our operations personnel who are specially trained to deal with incidents at oil and gas locations,” Wiedenbeck said.

“Should a serious well-control incident occur, such as release of gas or fire, EnCana will look to local emergency responders to provide support while EnCana calls upon well-control experts to assist in addressing such an incident,” she said.

The well-control company EnCana has identified in an Emergency Response Plan submitted to the state Department of Environmental Protection is Wild Well Control in Houston, Texas. A second call would be placed to Cudd Well Control, also in Houston.

“Depending on the severity of the well-control issue, they would respond as soon as possible. In the meantime, the area around the well – the exact area again depends on the well-control issue – would be secured and/or evacuated. This is another example of how Encana and local emergency responders will work together,” Wiedenbeck said.

Wiedenbeck said Encana has experienced well-control incidents in the past, and the risks are inherent in the oil and natural gas industry.

“Our training, systems, and protocols are designed to fit the level risk associated with the activity. Our goal is to minimize the risk and to operate in a safe manner. Safety is our number one priority,” she said.

County office works on plan

Steve Bekanich, coordinator of the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency, said last week that he has had several conversations with EnCana officials, but a volunteer with the county EMA “has taken the lead for my office. … We are close to completing an emergency response plan.”

Bekanich said Barney Dobinick, who is also the EMA coordinator for Lake Township, is “handling all direct talks with EnCana for ease of operations. He’s briefing me almost on a daily basis. … I’m very comfortable with what Barney has been doing. He’s been a trusted staff member for 20 years.”

Dobinick said a 230-page set of response guidelines is near completion. After meeting with EnCana representatives in mid-June, the plan will be shared with area municipal officials for their approval and made available to the public. Sometime in the next few, a public meeting also will be scheduled to gather input and answer questions.

Until the plan is complete, Dobinick said it would be counter-productive to release any aspects of it until EnCana has reviewed it and possible changes are made.

“If we determine there’s a better way, we’ll amend it. We’re not hiding anything. We just want to have a complete plan in place (before it’s released),” he said.

Bekanich said adjustments can be made even after the plan is disseminated to municipal officials and input is gathered from the public.

Dobinick did say, however, that local emergency responders would handle some emergencies at well sites, for example, a brush fire, an office trailer or vehicle fire or a hazardous materials spill.

Jack Dodson, emergency management coordinator for Dallas Township and Kunkle fire chief, has said his major concern was having emergency personnel who might have to extract disaster victims from a well-related catastrophe prepared to do so.

Dobinick said there are response guidelines for mass-casualty incidents, getting basic and advanced life support on-scene and implementing a disaster plan for hospitals and medical air transport.

“And depending on the seriousness of an event, it would determine how much, if any, of an area would be evacuated,” Dobinick said.

Off-site also part of concern

Dobinick said he’s more concerned about local responses to off-site incidents, such as the crash of a truck carrying “residual backflow” material, or “frack water” used in the hydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale formation.

He said fire departments would handle the initial stabilization of such an incident and work to prevent contamination of any nearby waterway. A state-certified hazardous material clean-up team would come in if needed to remove the material and any contaminated soil.

Dobinick said he feels “very comfortable” with the guidelines and hopes to have the majority of the document complete by the end of the week. He’s still waiting on some information from the county 911 office and the American Red Cross.

Plus, Bekanich noted that Luzerne County is a member of and has access to the resources of the East Central Pennsylvania Regional Task Force – a seven-county all-hazards task force formed in 1998 along with eight other such task forces in the state in response to terrorist threats.

Bekanich said 48 professionals from Luzerne, Wyoming, Schuylkill, Colombia, Northumberland, Montour and Berks counties attended a training event/exercise last week at the county EMA headquarters and worked on a scenario to determine “how we would bring logistics and resources together for an event such as a catastrophic well failure.”

If a catastrophe did occur, Bekanich said, “it’s not like we would be in this on our own. We have resources and technical expertise from seven other counties to rely on for support.”

Dobinick also said EnCana has commissioned a transportation study and will be sitting down with officials from the Lake-Lehman School District to address any concerns about incidents that could affect school bus routes.

Several area residents have voiced concerns about emergency response and traffic at public meetings over the last few months and have been dissatisfied with information supplied by EnCana.

Company schedules meetings

Wiedenbeck said meetings with stakeholders are scheduled for this week.

“Our goal is to understand how these agencies work together, how our operations impact them and how we can work together to make sure we collectively work together so local emergency responders continue to do the great job they’re already doing,” Widenebeck said.

The purpose of sitting down with Dobinick and others is to determine the capabilities of local responders and “if there are gaps, how do we fill them.”

In some instances, Wiedenbeck said, there might be grants available to purchase emergency response equipment that might be needed – for example, a new radio system.

“Our job is to work together with emergency responders, the recreation district, township supervisors and the school district to understand existing protocols and how those protocols might be impacted if there is an incident. We also need to understand existing resources, identify potential gaps and solutions for addressing the gaps, if any,” Wiedenbeck said.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader