IN THE NEWS / Steam Now Spewing From Well In Lost Hills Play
Filed: December 7, 1998
By BOB CHRISTIE
Californian staff writer
e-mail: bchristie@bakersfield.com
LOST HILLS — The blazing gas well near this western Kern County crossroads
hamlet has started spewing a new substance — steam.
The well, which blew out two weeks ago, has gone from a smoky fireball to a clear gas
flame and now to an orange torch. The changes have come about as crews with Boots
& Coots International Well Control hauled the remnants of a destroyed well drilling rig
from the flames and sliced off the mangled end of the well's casing.
Late Friday, the smooth, now-smokeless flame began sending off a geyser of steam.
That change was caused by water from deep underground joining the stream of natural
gas as it shot from the earth. It isn't known if the water is being produced from the same
depth as the natural gas and oil, or if it is coming from a cracked casing above that level.
All the while, the Boots & Coots crew has been battling to get close to the well so they
can cap it, if possible.
A new drilling rig is being erected about 1,500 feet from the burning well to drill a relief
well. The new well is expected to be started Saturday. The crew will drill to a planned
depth of 12,500 feet, cement a well casing, then slant drill to intercept the burning well
at 13,500 to 14,000 feet. That job is expected to take at least 45 days.
The dawn to dusk work on the flaming well progressed through the weekend. On
Monday, the crew used a cannon that shot water at 10,000 pounds per square inch to
slice off the well casing so they will have a clean pipe on which to attach a new blow-out
preventer valve, according to Boots & Coots engineering vice president Larry Flak.
Over the next few days, the Houston-based oil well firefighters will hook up an
elaborate system of diverter pipes designed to funnel the burning gas and liquid away
from the mouth of the well into two burn pits.
That system must be completely ready before the crew actually moves in the new valve,
Flak said. Positioning the new valve over the flaming well, they'll lower it into place,
secure it, then hook up the diverter system. The crew will attempt to slowly close the
valve and force the flow to move into the piping, where it will be burned off in the two
pits.
"So, we never shut the fire off, really," Flak explained. "This is the safest way to handle
the well so you don't have that reignition risk."
After the flow is diverted, the crew will be able to send tools down the blowout
preventer to remove drilling pipe and tools and test the well bore. It isn't known if the
casing is damaged deep underground, but that is not an uncommon occurrence. If the
crew can't control the flow of gas and oil from the surface, the well could be shut off by
pumping cement down the relief well.
The Lost Hills well was being drilled by Canadian oil company Bellevue Resources Inc.,
a subsidiary of Calgary-based Elk Point Resources Inc., when it caught fire.
The contracted drilling rig, from Nabors Drilling USA, had been on the site since March
and had gone to a depth of 17,640 feet. Highly pressurized natural gas apparently
forced its way into the well bore, and the crew could not stop the gas from forcing its
way to the surface. |
