The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission on Thursday notified Chevron subsidiary Noble Energy that it is under investigation for six alleged violations related to the blowout of a fracking well in Weld County.
The six violations pertain to well control, general safety requirements, oil and gas facilities operations, pollution and natural gas venting, according to a Thursday morning presentation to the commission about the April blowout.
The ECMC served Noble Energy with a notice of alleged violations, the first step in launching a formal investigation into missteps that caused thousands of barrels of crude oil, natural gas and fracking water to spew from the Bishop well pad.
Jeff Deranleau, the ECMC’s deputy director of operations, said the commission’s investigation could lead to fines and other enforcement actions for the company. The investigation could take months, and the penalties will be negotiated between the state and Chevron. The seven-member ECMC board of directors must give final approval of any penalties.
The decision to pursue an investigation into rules violations follows Chevron’s submission of a root-cause analysis on June 10 that pinned blame on a subcontractor and also on its employees for improperly installing equipment at the wellhead to regulate the flow of oil, gas and water from the ground. The company’s two-part explanation said the blowout happened during a period after fracking had been finished and before extraction began.
But the ECMC’s notice of alleged violations did not name the subcontractor nor any other individuals working for Noble Energy or Chevron.
“I want to note that, importantly, regardless of who or what causes an accident, spill, leak or other incident on an oil and gas location, the ECMC holds the operator of record accountable for the operations conducted on their location as the control of the location is solely in their hands,” Deranleau said.
Noble Energy, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron, holds the drilling permit.
Efforts to reach officials at Chevron on Thursday morning were unsuccessful.
The blowout was one of the largest spills in Colorado in recent memory, Deranleau told the commission.
“Well control incidents are rare,” Deranleau said. “The specific cause of this incident, as reported by Chevron, is related directly to proprietary equipment and improper assembly of the equipment, meaning it’s not even the same root cause of other well control incidents that have happened in the past in Colorado or elsewhere.”
After the blowout, the ECMC sent a notice to 42 other oil and gas operators in Colorado, advising them of the incident and asking each company to report to the state how it handles equipment installation between fracking and extraction.
Their responses and the ongoing investigation into the Bishop well blowout could lead to policy changes, said Mike Leonard, the ECMC’s quality assurance/quality control manager.
The massive blowout occurred at 5:50 p.m. April 6 at the Bishop well south of Weld County Road 74, near Galeton, about 14 miles east of Greeley. It lasted five days, leading to the closure of Galeton Elementary School and the evacuation of 14 families. One worker suffered a broken leg when a piece of equipment fell on him during the incident, Deranleau said.
Related Articles
Trump blocks Colorado’s rules meant to put more electric vehicles on the road Chevron blames equipment-installation failures for well blowout in Weld County Families in Colorado facing danger of return to Afghanistan (Letters) Here’s what Colorado lawmakers did — and didn’t — do on climate and environmental issues this year Suncor violated pollution permits for 900 hours during 3-month shutdown, environmental group reportsThe blowout spewed 20,000 barrels of water and 5,000 barrels of hydrocarbons into the air, and those liquids covered the school, homes and other structures within a 1.5-mile radius of the well — an area that covers seven square miles, or 4,500 acres. Toxic chemicals, including benzene, hung in the air, flowed into ponds and streams and seeped into the groundwater.
The state has divided that area into 300 parcels that each have a specific remediation plan, and the ECMC expects the cleanup to last through 2030.
So far, the ECMC has received 730 surface water samples, 2,203 soil samples and 475 air samples, said Kyle Waggoner, the commission’s east environmental supervisor. The agency is also conducting tests on the surfaces of the school, homes and other structures that have been cleaned to make sure all hazardous pollutants have been removed.
“How do we make this a successful remediation site? In other words, how do you eat an elephant?” Waggoner said.
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Colorado launches investigation into Chevron-owned Noble Energy over Bishop well blowout )
Also on site :