State Halts Marcellus Shale Drilling
Cites chemical spills at Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. well site
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
26 September 2009
By Marc Levy, The Associated Press
HARRISBURG -- Citing three recent chemical spills at one well site,
Pennsylvania regulators said yesterday they had ordered Cabot Oil and
Gas Corp. to halt its use of a drilling technique that uses liquids to
fracture rock and release natural gas.
The state Department of Environmental Protection's order applies to
eight of Cabot's drilling sites, all in Susquehanna County in
northeastern Pennsylvania. An agency spokeswoman called the order the
toughest action the department has ever taken against a company
drilling into the potentially lucrative Marcellus shale formation.
The company, which received the order Thursday, voluntarily shut down
its use of the drilling technique -- called hydraulic fracturing, or
"fracking" -- at the spill-plagued site there earlier this week. It has
seven other drilling sites that eventually will require fracking to
complete.
"The department took this action because of our concern about Cabot's
current fracking process and to ensure that the environment in
Susquehanna County is properly protected," the DEP's northcentral
regional director, Robert Yowell, said in a statement.
This is not Cabot's first run-in with state regulators. Earlier this
year, state officials blamed Cabot's drilling operations for causing
methane to seep into some nearby residential water wells in Susquehanna
County, leaving the water unsafe to drink and the wells a potential
danger to explode.
Under the state's order, Cabot must complete a number of engineering
and safety tasks before it can resume its fracking process as it drills
into the potentially lucrative Marcellus shale formation. That includes
conducting an engineering study of all equipment and work practices
associated with fracking at all well sites in the county within 21 days.
Cabot spokesman Ken Komoroski said yesterday that the company disagrees
with some of the agency's allegations in the order but is committed to
completing the tasks required by the order. He also said the company
believes that its cleanup efforts removed any risk to area residents.
This week, the department cited Houston-based Cabot for violating the
Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law and several other laws in connection
with three spills of a liquid-gel lubricant within seven days. The
substance is mixed with water and pumped down the well bore before it
is blasted into the shale to release the natural gas trapped in the
rock.
Cabot may face civil penalties in connection with the citations, the
department said.
In two separate spills on Sept. 16, the lubricant poured out of a loose
pipe connection and seeped into a wetland and killed fish in a creek,
according to the department. Mr. Komoroski has said the lubricant was
heavily diluted by freshwater, which substantially limited its harm. On
Tuesday, crews spilled more of the lubricant when a closed valve caused
a hose to rupture under increased pressure.
The lubricant in question -- called LGC-35 CBM -- is supplied by
Houston-based Halliburton Co., which provided an information sheet
saying that chemicals in the product are potential carcinogens.
However, Mr. Komoroski has said further inquiry by Halliburton found no
risk of cancer from the product, and its earlier statement was made in
an abundance of caution.
He called the lubricant "relatively innocuous," although it may cause
eye, skin and breathing irritations. A Halliburton spokeswoman did not
respond to a request for comment.
Cabot is one of dozens of oil and gas exploration companies flocking to
Pennsylvania in pursuit of Marcellus shale gas.
The massive rock formation lies 5,000 to 8,000 feet underground in an
area covering more than 50,000 square miles -- about the size of Greece
-- and stretching across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
The industry has long known about the gas in the Marcellus shale -- but
it wasn't until gas prices rose in recent years and a new
shale-drilling technology was proven in Texas over the past decade that
companies decided it was profitable to pursue.
If the Marcellus shale ends up producing even a small fraction of the
recoverable gas that is projected to be there, it will be the largest
gas field ever in the United States.
To date, the state has received production reports from about 80
Marcellus shale wells. The state has issued more than 1,200 permits for
Marcellus shale wells since 2005, with drilling taking place on about
half. Drilling has taken place on more than 330 alone this year,
according to the department.