Crews push drills into fiery new gas well - Bob Christie
Filed: August 16, 1999
By BOB CHRISTIE
Californian staff writer
e-mail: bchristie@bakersfield.com
LOST HILLS ? Crews drilling a replacement for a wildcat well that was
destroyed in a blazing blowout last November have struck pay dirt once
again, more than three miles deep.
High pressure natural gas is again being burned at the site 40 miles west of
Bakersfield, with orange flames leaping more than 50 feet at times.
But unlike last year's blowout, which blazed for more than two weeks and
flowed uncontrolled for six months before well control specialists gained the
upper hand, the gas now is burning in a controlled flare.
The flare shows that a totally new California natural gas field should soon
appear on the maps of the state division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal
Resources.
Estimates of potential gas reserves made by some participating companies
exceed 1 trillion cubic feet, which, if proven, would make it a world-class
gas discovery.
Drillers have pushed their bits more than 200 feet into the gas-bearing
formation that is more than 17,000 feet deep, and have encountered more
than one rock layer saturated with very high pressures of gas. They are
flaring some of the gas because of pressure variations between different
layers, which creates technical problems for the crews.
Canadian public companies involved include Elk Point Resources, Berkley
Petroleum, Westminster Resources, Paramount Resources, Richland
Petroleum, Kookaburra Resources and Hilton Petroleum; PYR Energy is
U.S.-based.
The first well blew out in spectacular fashion on Nov. 23 and burned fiercely
for two weeks before water began flowing with the gas, eventually putting
out the fire. After failing to stop the gas and water from flowing through the
blown well, the current well was drilled to serve as a relief well. The relief
well succeeded in intersecting the blown well and "killing" it on May 28.
That well bore was then redirected to enter the formation again, and crews
entered the zone late last week.
Gas shows and high pressure were immediate, and a slow and careful drilling
plan is now under way to try to bring the well to a planned total depth of
19,000 feet.
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