Daniel Montes, 28, Fruita, CO, and Richard Maheu, 27, Rock Springs, WY, suffered serious burns and were in critical condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, the sheriff’s office said.
Justin Pyle, 40, Grand Junction, CO, was treated and released for minor injuries from McKenzie County Heathcare Systems Hospital in Watford City, officials said.
A North Dakota oil well owned by Exxon Mobil subsidiary XTO Energy blew out on Saturday, leaking more than 550 barrels (23,100 gallons) of crude, some of which left the wellpad and seeped into surrounding grasses.
The well, located in a rural area 25 miles southeast of Watford City, was being hydraulic fractured when its pressure control valves failed and it leaked the oil and about 110 barrels (4,620) of saltwater.
The well was brought under control on Sunday morning. No one was injured.
The well, Deep Creek Federal 43X-5D (#30042), is located on the same drilling pad as four other wells and was first drilled on April 25.This is on a 5-well pad. Two were older wells, completed some time ago. Two new wells are on the pad, and one of them was one that had the blowout.
An oil well site near Watford City has gone up in flames.
McKenzie County Emergency Management says the fire started on a oil pad around 6:30 p.m.
Crews worked for about half an hour to put out the flames.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
A nearby apartment building was evacuated due to the fire but residents have now returned home.Wow, I'm glad this did not happen on "Friday the thirteenth." Missed it by that much.
A bill sponsored by nine Republican lawmakers could potentially void North Dakota’s efforts to curb natural gas flaring and the conditioning of Bakken’s sweet crude, according to a report by The Dickinson Press.
Lead sponsor of the bill Rep. Keith Kempenich said that one of the bills is in response to the flaring goals and oil conditioning standards being approved by the Industrial Commission without going through the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Committee.
The Dickinson Press reports that Kempenich said, “We need to be involved when they get into that broad of public policy. The Legislature was pretty much left out of the loop as far as what those policies were.” He added that the rules committee would have likely rejected the order to reduce flaring because the goals are “arbitrary.”
That order, adopted July 1, requires oil and gas producers in the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations to capture 77 percent of the gas being released by January 1, 85 percent by January 2016 and 90 percent by October 2020. If operators are unable to meet these goals they would be forced to cut back on production.I agree completely. However, a slippery slope either way.
An incident at a North Dakota oil well has left one man dead and another one injured.
The Bismarck Tribune reports the men were repairing equipment at the oil well location near Mandaree when fluids somehow ignited, burning both men.
Reports from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration show that Denver-based QEP Resources operates the well. The incident’s fatal victim was the owner of Legendary Field Services of Watford City, and the man who was injured is employed by that oil-field service provider.Very, very sad.
About 15 workers were evacuated from the location of an out-of-control Whiting Petroleum oil well five miles southwest of Watford City late Thursday afternoon.
McKenzie County Emergency Manager Jerry Samuelson said no fire or explosion occurred, but oil and water blew a plume from the well until the company was able to divert the flow into its nearby storage tanks.
He said the 15 workers were temporarily removed from the site by school bus to ensure their safety.Dangerous, dangerous occupation.
The initial height of the blowout was caused by intense pressure from the well and because the blowout forced the well pipe up out of the well and it got caught up in the workover rigging.
Wild Well Control is on location and will bring in specialized equipment with plans to get the well controlled today.
[A spokesman] said no one was injured in the blowout.Two wells on DRL status five miles west of Watford City, both on the same pad: