DEP Investigating Natural Gas Well Leak

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says a 16-hour natural gas and drilling fluid leak from an out-of-control well was a "serious incident" that could have been "catastrophic," and it will be thoroughly investigated.

Operators of the rural Clearfield County well, owned by EOG Resources Inc., lost control of it around 8 p.m. Thursday while preparing to extract gas after hydrofracturing the shale.

DEP said didn't learn of the incident for more than 5 hours. The department was notified by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency at approximately 1:30 a.m. Friday .

DEP officials dispatched Emergency Response and Oil and Gas program staff. Companies that specialize in out-of-control wells also responded to the site, located about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Elizabeth Ivers, a spokeswoman for driller EOG Resources, said the well was brought under control just after noon Friday.

A DEP spokesman said no one was injured and that there were no homes within a mile of the well. Polluted drilling water hasn't reached a waterway.

The well did, however, release natural gas and flowback frack fluid onto the ground and 75 feet into the air. The polluted water flowing out of the well and into the woods was stopped by a trench and a pump installed by a contractor.

Local reports indicated the leak occurred in the Moshannon State Forest and campers were evacuated.

"When we arrived on scene, natural gas and frack fluid was flowing off the well pad and heading toward tributaries to Little Laurel Run and gas was shooting into the sky, creating a significant fire hazard. That's why emergency responders acted quickly to cut off electric service to the area,"  DEP Secretary John Hanger said in a press release Friday afternoon .

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a flight restriction shortly after 11 a.m., saying no planes below 1,000 feet should go within three miles. That restriction remains in effect until further notice.

DEP said unexpectedly high gas pressure in the new well prevented crews from containing it sooner.

An expert on such wells told the Associated Press that gas well blowouts are very rare.

David Rensink, the incoming president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, said such blowouts can be very dangerous to control, since a spark can set off an explosion. Securing one can take days.

Typically, a series of valves called a blowout preventer sit atop a well and allow wellhands to control the pressure inside, he said.

A blowout preventer also figured into the massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana. The device was supposed to shut off the flow of oil in the event of a catastrophic failure, but failed to do so.

DEP's Hanger said, “The event at the well site could have been a catastrophic incident that endangered life and property. This was not a minor accident, but a serious incident that will be fully investigated by this agency with the appropriate and necessary actions taken quickly."

DEP said it's focused on limiting "any further environmental damage," but said once that work is complete it will aggressively look at the situation to see where things went wrong and consider enforcement action.

"If mistakes were made, we will be certain to take steps to prevent similar errors from happening again," Hanger said.

The EOG well pad is located in Lawrence Township near the Penfield/Route 153 exit of Interstate 80. Three other wells on the same pad that have been drilled and fractured remain plugged and are not in danger, according to the DEP.

EOG Resources -- formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Co. -- operates approximately 265 active wells in Pennsylvania, 117 of which are in the Marcellus Shale formation.

A document posted to the company's website earlier this year said it held rights to 230,000 acres in Pennsylvania, planned to open 40 new wells in 2010 and then could add 80 wells in 2011.

EOG's stock was up slightly Friday morning but then dipped to more than 6 percent down by 3 p.m. in heavier afternoon trading.