Lack of adequate procedures cause of Suncor rig blowout near Hudson’s Hope

Lack of adequate procedures cause of Suncor rig blowout by Erica Fisher, Energetic City, March 7, 2013

The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission has released its report on the blowout at a Suncor natural gas rig 20 kilometres north of Hudson’s Hope last March, pointing to a lack of adequate well control procedures as the cause. According to the report, although the crew had received specialized well control training on site, their primary experience was with heavy oil wells in eastern Alberta.

As they did not have any significant experience with deep drilling, high pressure gas wells, they “defaulted” to their previous training and experience when there was a loss of well control. On March 9, 2012 workers were alerted to an increase in drilling fluid volume. The crew shut the well, but the casing pressure continued to climb, so they opened it to flow in an attempt to relieve pressure. The failure occurred 40 minutes after the first alarm, when the casing pressure exceeded 27,000 kPa. The site was evacuated and the rig caught fire not long after, destroying it.

An analysis of the piping components found one failure that occurred on the drilling fluid return line that didn’t occur as a result of damage from the fire. It indicated that there was a pre-existing fatigue crack was present on a joint, which would make it susceptible to failure with a “relatively small” bending load. This is considered a contributing factor to the loss of well control, along with the inadequate training. Suncor has been instructed to ensure all wellsite personnel are properly trained, and the company has developed a training course specific to the area. [Emphasis added]

[Refer also to:

The Groundwater Debate by Andrew Nikiforuk, June 2006: Yet coal bed methane requires five to 10 times more fracing than conventional gas. … To date no CBM company has disclosed the chemical contents of its fracing fluids.

EnCana Corporation facing criminal charges

$250000 in community safety projects following Encana deadly sour gas leak

B.C. Oil and Gas Commission lacks ‘transparency’ on fracking violations 

2012 Hydraulic fracturing with gelled propane by Gasfrac/Crew Energy Inc./Caltex Energy Inc. contaminated groundwater near Grande Prairie: ERCB Investigative Report and groundwater monitoring by Alberta Environment

Fracking blowout report released by ERCB

Fracking blamed in Innisfail well blowout, ERCB assigns fault to Midway Energy but no enforcement ordered because no rules in place at the time ]

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