Colorado launches investigation into Chevron-owned Noble Energy over Bishop well blowout

The Colorado Potential and Carbon Management Commission on Thursday notified Chevron subsidiary Noble Vigor that it is under review 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 garbage and natural gas venting according to a Thursday morning presentation to the commission about the April blowout The ECMC served Noble Resource with a notice of alleged violations the first step in launching a formal research 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 mentioned the commission s inspection could lead to fines and other enforcement actions for the company The research 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 probe into rules violations follows Chevron s submission of a root-cause analysis on June 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 noted 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 Force or Chevron I want to note that importantly regardless of who or what causes an accident spill leak or other situation 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 noted Noble Vitality which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron holds the drilling permit Efforts to reach bureaucrats at Chevron on Thursday morning were unsuccessful The blowout was one of the largest spills in Colorado in fresh memory Deranleau advised the commission Well control incidents are rare Deranleau revealed The specific cause of this episode as communicated 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 other oil and gas operators in Colorado advising them of the occurrence and asking each company to summary to the state how it handles equipment installation between fracking and extraction Their responses and the ongoing analysis into the Bishop well blowout could lead to plan changes stated Mike Leonard the ECMC s quality assurance quality control manager The massive blowout occurred at p m April at the Bishop well south of Weld County Road near Galeton about miles east of Greeley It lasted five days leading to the closure of Galeton Elementary School and the evacuation of families One worker suffered a broken leg when a piece of equipment fell on him during the circumstance Deranleau explained 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 state and environmental issues this year Suncor violated garbage permits for hours during -month shutdown environmental group reports The blowout spewed barrels of water and barrels of hydrocarbons into the air and those liquids covered the school homes and other structures within a -mile radius of the well an area that covers seven square miles or 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 parcels that each have a specific remediation plan and the ECMC expects the cleanup to last through So far the ECMC has received surface water samples soil samples and air samples explained 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 productive remediation site In other words how do you eat an elephant Waggoner declared Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter