Gas well blowout: Operator suspends fracking in state

Chesapeake: Flow from leak in Bradford County well stopped. Cause of breach still unknown.

LEROY TWP. – As a natural gas well in Bradford County continued to leak super-salty flow-back water after a blowout Wednesday, well operator Chesapeake Energy suspended all hydraulic fracturing operations in Pennsylvania on Thursday.

The leak, which began in an accident Tuesday night, produced water and natural gas until about 10 p.m. Thursday, when Chesapeake said it had stopped the flow.

Chesapeake’s Atgas H2 gas well in LeRoy Township, near Canton, suffered a blowout when a piece of equipment failed during hydraulic fracturing just before midnight Tuesday into Wednesday, sending a reported 30,000 gallons of water spilling from the well pad, some of it reaching a tributary of Towanda Creek.

The creek flows into the Susquehanna River.

Chesapeake said fluids still seeping from the leaking piece of equipment had been contained by midday Wednesday, and a secondary containment mechanism was diverting the flow of fluids away from Towanda Creek.

Equipment was removed from the well head, and crews worked to plug the leak and seal the well. Chesapeake said after 10 p.m. Thursday that workers had successfully stemmed the flow of the leak, and that they would continue to monitor it overnight.

Chesapeake spokesman Brian Grove said the exact cause of the breach remained unknown Thursday, but that it took place in a wellhead connection.

“Chesapeake has voluntarily suspended all completion operations in Pennsylvania as we evaluate this incident,” Grove said in a statement Thursday, later adding, “a full investigation will be conducted to determine the root cause of the failure, evaluate best management practices and make any and all necessary corrections before returning to normal operations.”Seven families living near the well were temporarily evacuated Wednesday morning but returned later in the day.

Chesapeake spokesman Rory Sweeney said fluid injected into the well during fracking contained chemical additives that aid the process, including corrosion and bacteria inhibitors, but the main environmental concern is with brine, naturally occurring underground salt water now back-flowing from the well with the frack fluid.

“Highly briny liquid can have some effects,” Sweeney said. “That’s why we’ve been very diligent and worked very hard to mitigate and minimize the effects to the environment.”

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s daily summary report Thursday stated approximately 30,000 gallons of water leaked from the well. Chesapeake and the state Department of Environmental Protection could not confirm that figure.

DEP spokesman Daniel Spadoni said Thursday that well-containment specialist Boots and Coots International Well Control Inc., of Texas, pumped ground up tires, plastic bits and other rubber material into the well to plug the leak, and will then pump heavy mud into the hole to kill the well.

Spadoni said DEP sampled seven private wells Wednesday and eight surface water locations but had not received the results.

A field test of water from Towanda Creek entering the Susquehanna River did not indicate an impact, Spadoni added.

Grove said the well also began emitting limited amounts of natural gas early Thursday morning, and that Chesapeake and the Bradford County Emergency Management Agency performed gas-plume modeling and found that any natural-gas releases will not pose a risk to the area’s public safety.

MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com
April 22, 2011
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Operator_suspends_fracking_in_state_04-21-2011.html

More News About the Blowout:

Chesapeake suspends well completion operations
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/chesapeake-suspends-well-completion-operations-1.1136178#axzz1Jb4OFfes

Chesapeake stops fluid leak
http://citizensvoice.com/news/chesapeake-stops-fluid-leak-1.1136067#axzz1K40icpUb

After gas well leak in northern Pa., company suspends some operations
http://republicanherald.com/news/after-gas-well-leak-in-northern-pa-company-suspends-some-operations-1.1136148