Report on Clearfield County Gas Blowout Cites Mistakes, Training
Washington PA Observer Reporter
14 July 2010
HARRISBURG - A natural gas drilling company failed to use a proper
backup pressure-control system last month when hooking up a well to a
pipeline, leading to a major blowout in Pennsylvania that spewed gas
and wastewater for 16 hours, a state investigation has found.
EOG Resources Inc. of Houston, which operates nearly 300 wells in
Pennsylvania, cut corners by not using a second set of pressure-control
devices, a consultant hired by the state concluded in a report issued
Tuesday.
EOG took similar safety shortcuts on at least some of its other wells
in Pennsylvania, where about half of its drilling operations are in the
gas-rich Marcellus Shale reserve, a lucrative source of natural gas
that has drawn scores of companies to the state.
"I don't know any company that would cut corners like this on this kind
of well," said consultant John G. Vittitow, a Texas-based petroleum
engineer. "This was just a bad decision and it caught up with them."
In signed papers released Tuesday, EOG and its contractor, C.C. Forbes
Co. of Texas agreed to maximum fines of more than $400,000 combined and
to take corrective actions. But they also were allowed to resume all
activities in Pennsylvania after the state had shut down some
operations since the June 3 blowout.
State regulators also sent a letter ordering all drilling operators to
adhere to a set of safety standards designed to prevent another such
incident.
In a statement Tuesday, EOG said it regretted the blowout.
"We will be implementing the new operational procedures as defined in
the letter to all gas well operators and look forward to resuming our
activities in the commonwealth," said EOG vice president and general
manager, Gary L. Smith.
For 16 hours, explosive gas and briny wastewater shot into the air
before specialists called to the site brought it under control. No one
was hurt, and the gas did not ignite, although about 35,000 gallons of
polluted water was collected after two nearby creeks were polluted.
State Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said state
regulations did not allow EOG's practices, and he warned that another
such preventable failure could mean the end of EOG's business in
Pennsylvania.
"They will be out of here, as far as we're concerned," Hanger said. As
for other companies cutting the same corners, he said, "They just
absolutely don't want to do it."
The blowout occurred on the grounds of a hunting club in a heavily
forested section of Clearfield County, near Interstate 80 and about 90
miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
It happened about a week after the crew had finished the hydraulic
fracturing process, in which millions of gallons of water, sand and
chemicals are blasted underground to shatter tightly compacted shale a
mile underground and release trapped natural gas. Some of the water
returns to the surface saturated with dissolved chlorides, sulfates and
metals accumulated in the shale, and must either be treated on site or
be trucked away to a special treatment facility.
The C.C. Forbes crew was carrying out the well-finishing work, such as
drilling out plugs inserted during hydraulic fracturing, and preparing
to connect the well to a pipeline when it lost control of the well.
The crew damaged the lone rubber pressure-control seal in the well and,
without a backup system, highly pressurized fluid and gas began
spraying out.
Vittitow said he couldn't explain why EOG would take such a risk. Cost
and time savings might have been a consideration, as well as the
company's use of similar practices at low-pressure wells in other
regions where it is standard, he said.
Vittitow also cited EOG's failure to ensure that someone on site had a
current well-control certification and to properly test
pressure-control equipment, known as a blowout preventer.
EOG never notified the state's 24-hour environmental emergency response
hotline. Instead, EOG waited for about two hours to notify anybody,
leaving messages on the cell phones of two well inspectors, who did not
respond. Then it tried to contact the county sheriff, unsuccessfully,
before calling the county's 911 emergency line.
About 1 a.m. - more than five hours after the well went out of control
- state emergency managers who had been contacted by the county finally
notified environmental emergency officials.
"Hours literally ticked by," Hanger said.
The slow notification set cleanup efforts back by several hours, Hanger
said.
Pollution levels in the two creeks are dropping and are not considered
a public health hazard because neither is close to a public water
supply, Hanger said.
Hanger insisted Tuesday that existing regulations do not allow EOG's
tactics because they require companies to obey accepted industry safety
standards.
Most companies obey those, he said, but a letter being sent Tuesday
would lay out in detail what is expected of them.
"Obviously, some more prescription specifying for every single operator
is needed, that's what this event showed," Hanger said. "If there was
any confusion previously, that confusion is ended today with this
report."
He also said his agency would redouble its inspection activity with
more emphasis on well-finishing work, although he acknowledged that it
was a "fair question" as to whether an agency inspector should have
been on site during that stage.
The site had been inspected three times prior to the well-finishing
process when the accident happened, with no violations found.