Eagleridge Operating holds permits to convert more old, vertical wells in Denton to horizontal wells.
On April 19, 2013, Eagleridge had an accident while they were trying to convert a 10-year-old well, API #42-121-31855, with 10-year-old casing from a vertical well to a horizontal well.
This accident included Hazmat units, closed streets, canceled or rerouted flights, evacuated neighbors and a huge toxic release that lasted about 12 hours. Released toxics were “conservatively estimated” and based on a 7.5 hour event, not a 12 hour event. Toxics included:
Contaminant Authorization Limit Amount Released
Benzene 106.4 10.0 TONS/YR 59.61 lbs (est.)
Butanes 106.352(l) and 106.4 25.0 TONS/YR 11047.0 lbs (est.)
Pentanes 106.352(l) and 106.4 25.0 TONS/YR 6277.0 lbs (est.)
Propane 106.352(l) and 106.4 25.0 TONS/YR 12556.0 lbs (est.)
One resident shared her story of the experience with the Denton Record Chronicle.
Home video, personal story of Friday’s gas leak
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
April 24, 2013
…She had left her daughter and newborn grandchild behind, only to learn later that the fire department came, banging on the door and telling them to leave.
“They told her not to turn on the lights or anything, just grab her purse and go,” Brewer said. “My daughter was so upset that she forgot to buckle the baby’s carrier into the cart seat.”
She shared her home video.
There are two emission sources in the video. Are we supposed to multiply the “conservatively estimated” emissions by two?
Today, the city issued a press statement that reassured residents all is well.
For precautionary purposes only, the residential homesteads surrounding the gas well were evacuated until the capping operation was complete.
The gas well has been successfully capped and the situation is fully under control.
The well was drilled in 2003 and completed on 4/3/2003. Then Eagleridge, the new operator, applied for a permit to convert this well into a horizontal well. They plan to do this again.
A quick check on the Railroad Commission of Texas website shows that Eagleridge plans to strike again in Denton. See the map below that shows some of the permitted locations where Eagleridge plans to convert old, vertical wells to horizontal wells.
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Sounds very familiar. She’s so right in describing it as psychological torture, that’s exactly what it is, 24/7. Every night, all night long, woken up by the compressor noise, and the constant stream of semis right behind my back yard. I’ve even been able to hear the radios from the semis, or the driver talking on his/her phone, that’s how close they are to my bedroom. Plus, the fear of an explosion. There’s always that.
We were evacuated one morning a few years ago, told not to come back until late that night … no time to gather up anything, we had to leave immediately (as per the sheriff). Never told anything afterwards. Didn’t sleep well that night!
Let’s hear ONE single Gashole say they live like we do, and enjoy it. Do any gas execs live next to one of these sites? Of course not.
They all live where I moved to when I got out of the gas patch. Blake Jackson of Chesapeake told me he would not want his children going to school new fracking and would not want to live near it.
Is that legal?
Apparently it is because the RRC permitted it.
After some looking, don’t find any more operators around N TX conducting “Recompletions” especially at the rate Eagleridge Operating is. There appear to be lots of “Recompletions”‘ of old verticals by them in the works. This seems very experimental.
This new drilling technique just makes more migratory paths for O&G contaminants to migrate upwards to our drinking water aquifers!
As you mentioned, the Vertical Well there on the map ~ API #121-31855 ~ Well #1 ~ has been in production since 2003 as far as we can tell. The number 1 for the Vertical Gas Well #1 doesn’t show on the map, but it’s that little red circle.
Here’s the “Production Data” for Vertical Gas Well #1, API #121-31855. Scroll through the pages tabs at the top to see the last 10 years of production:
The Last 10 Years of Production for Well #1 ~ API #121-31855
So, here is a permit for the SAME unique API #121-31855 for a Horizontal Well #7H (the H means Horizontal). It’s marked as 7H on the map above in blue which means it’s NOT “Complete.” The permit is for “Recompletion.” Very interesting. Here’s that info to view:
Recompletion of an Incomplete Horizontal Wellbore
But wait. Is this something that is truly LEGAL? since heretofore (and last time we confirmed this with our RRC official in Austin) a wellbore that is already “in production” cannot be re-named with a new well number or a new lease name and leases cannot be consolidated post-production either and, in this case, since 2003 ~ as shown at the link above.
Is calling it “Recompletion” some kind of wonderful tax advantage for the operator? That sounds good for them! Does the IRS know how to use the web site? And that word, “Recompletion,” makes it all sound so tidy ~ except when the already producing well blows up and spews raw gas (methane) and lots of other deadly, naturally occurring radioactive materials all over Texas and into your bedroom.
Where’s Andree?
WCGasette recently posted..We Will Not Forget West, Texas.
Sorry for the bad link. They don’t make it easy. See if this one works better:
Recompletion of an Incomplete Horizontal Wellbore
WCGasette recently posted..We Will Not Forget West, Texas.
These are all good questions. I noticed that they renamed the well but kept the same API#. We have a lot of questions but we aren’t getting any answers.
The RRC lets the operators do whatever they want to do, whenever they want to do it. If a rubber stamp is needed, stand back, the ink wil be flying to achieve the rubber stamp!