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Firefighters divert inferno, get look at base of well
December 5, 1998
By BOB CHRISTIE
Californian staff writer
e-mail: bchristie@bakersfield.com
Another day, another small success in the ongoing battle against the raging natural gas well fire in Lost Hills.
On Friday, crews from Boots & Coots International Well Control got their first close-up look at the base of the blazing well, which blew out and exploded the night of Nov. 23.
Boots & Coots workers placed a fine-tuned pipe atop the well, designed to move the point of combustion 25 feet above the ground, and approached the well for their first real look at the mouth of the blaze.
"There's a baseplate there that's shaking around and we're going to have to get it out of there," said Larry Flak, vice president for engineering for Boots & Coots.
Removal of the 40-inch diameter, 2-inch-thick cast plate is on the agenda for this morning. At this point, it doesn't appear that the above-ground casing is critically damaged, but a closer inspection will tell, Flak said.
Even if the well head casing is intact, the crew may not be able to close off the gas flow without digging a relief well, he said.
That's because the casing for the well could well be damaged deep underground, and closing off pressure would only force the gas to explode again around the casing.
Aiden Walsh, president of the Canadian oil and gas company drilling the well, Elk Point Resources Inc., subsidiary of Bellevue Resources Inc. of Calgary, said the relief well will need to be drilled to 13,500 feet and have a full casing installed before crews can sidetrack it to intersect the blown well.
That process could take as long as 45 days, Walsh said.
A piece of good news for Elk Point and the other 11 companies that have invested in the well is that all costs appear to be covered by insurance.
That includes not only the cost of controlling the well, but even of redrilling a new well if needed, Walsh said.
No one was injured when the well blew out and exploded, and no workers have been hurt while battling the fire. |
