By JACK Z. SMITH, Star-Telegram (Dallas-Fort Worth), Jun. 04, 2010
Well blowouts are unusual, but certainly not unheard of in North Texas' Barnett Shale, the largest natural gas-producing area in the U.S.
On April 22, 2006, a blowout killed a worker, Robert Dale Gayan, 49, at an XTO Energy well site in Forest Hill, south of Fort Worth.
XTO said Gayan "removed a safety plug from within a valve port in error, while there was pressure on the wellhead." The result was an explosive "blast of water and natural gas" that struck Gayan, the company said, describing it as a "rare accident ... unlikely to recur."
The accident occurred between the first and second stages of hydraulic fracturing, which is done to enable a large flow of gas into the wellbore. Fracturing follows drilling and precedes hooking up the well to a pipeline to begin production.
The accident occurred at the well surface, rather than underground, XTO said.
It was a major factor in Fort Worth's decision to double, from 300 to 600 feet, the distance that wells could be drilled from homes, although energy companies can seek variances allowing them to drill closer.
The drilling death in Forest Hill was the first in Tarrant County, but a similar blowout in 2002 in Haslet forced the evacuation of 30 homes.
An April 2006 Star-Telegram report, citing Texas Railroad Commission data, said that there had been 14 blowouts at Wise County wells and four at Denton County wells since 1997, with no injuries reported in these incidents.
In December 2005, an explosion at a drilling site in Palo Pinto County blew a huge crater in the ground; no one was injured. The commission said gas from a new well seeped into an old, uncapped well nearby and began to bubble out of the ground before igniting.
Commission officials could not be reached late Friday for official information on blowouts of Barnett Shale wells.
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
jzsmith@star-telegram.com
