Eog Resources

Pennsylvania environmental officials Friday allowed EOG Resources Inc. to resume drilling two Marcellus Shale natural gas wells, partially lifting a suspension imposed after an EOG well blew out last week in Clearfield County. The Department of Environmental Protection's order allows the Houston-based company to restart drilling operations on two sites at the Punxsutawney Hunting Club, where EOG Resources is developing several wells, agency spokesman Neil Weaver said. The site where the June 3 blowout occurred is still shut down to allow investigators and cleanup crews to finish work.

HARRISBURG ? Natural gas and polluted drilling water shot out of a rural Pennsylvania well after an accident late Thursday night caused by unexpectedly high gas pressure. Department of Environmental Protection officials say no drilling water has spilled into a waterway, although the accident occurred in an environmentally sensitive area in the SB Elliott State Park in Clearfield County. Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency officials said that the accident had been contained as of 12:15 p.m. But flights have been restricted over the area as a precautionary measure, PEMA said.

Pennsylvania environmental officials Friday allowed EOG Resources Inc. to resume drilling two Marcellus Shale natural gas wells, partially lifting a suspension imposed after an EOG well blew out last week in Clearfield County. The Department of Environmental Protection's order allows the Houston company to restart drilling on two sites at the Punxsutawney Hunting Club, agency spokesman Neil Weaver said. The site where the June 3 blowout occurred is still shut down to allow investigators and cleanup crews to finish work.

The blowout and spill at a natural-gas well in central Pennsylvania shows the need for tougher monitoring and better communication between regulators and drillers. It also shows the wisdom of a proposed severance tax on this burgeoning industry, a portion of which would pay for cleaning up hazardous sites. The accident in rural Clearfield County was bad, but it could have been much worse. No workers were hurt and no homes were damaged when the well operated by EOG Resources Inc. blew out June 3, sending a gusher of natural gas and drilling fluid 75 feet into the air. The gusher leaked for 16 hours before a containment team capped the well.

CLEARFIELD, Pa. - The state's investigation into the cause of a natural gas well blowout in a rural area near here widened Wednesday, when environmental officials suspended a contractor that was working on the well when it went out of control. The Department of Environmental Protection ordered C.C. Forbes Co., a division of Forbes Energy Services of Alice, Texas, to halt any more well-completion projects in the Marcellus Shale. The DEP ordered the company to hand over equipment records and provide access to employees.

HARRISBURG - In the heftiest fine levied thus far against a Marcellus Shale natural-gas driller, state environmental officials socked a Texas company Tuesday with a $400,000 penalty for failures that caused last month's well blowout in central Pennsylvania. John Hanger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), sharply rebuked EOG Resources Inc. for failing to maintain control of the Clearfield County well, which erupted June 3 and spewed natural gas and toxic wastewater for 16 hours before it could be capped.

CLEARFIELD, Pa. - Clearfield County has a long history of timber and coal extraction, and many here eagerly welcomed the economic promise of Marcellus Shale natural gas exploration. But the June 3 blowout of a Marcellus gas well was a reminder that natural-resource development does not come without costs. Workers lost control of the well on the Punxsutawney Hunting Club grounds, and it unleashed a combustible 75-foot fountain of natural gas and toxic wastewater. Precious hours were lost when a blowout-control team from Texas was unable to land at the fogged-in regional airport and was diverted to Johnstown, 60 miles away.

CLEARFIELD, Pa. - A Texas petroleum engineer arrived here Thursday to investigate last week's natural gas well blowout for Pennsylvania's environmental agency, which now says contamination from the incident may have migrated into a stream. The Department of Environmental Protection hired John G. Vittitow of Fort Worth to conduct a third-party examination of the accident, the first time an exploration company has lost control of a well since interest in the Marcellus Shale took off. "We wanted additional expertise," said Neil Weaver, DEP's spokesman.

Pennsylvania environmental officials on Monday suspended drilling operations of a Marcellus Shale natural-gas operator whose Clearfield County well erupted last week into an uncontrolled geyser of gas and wastewater. Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger ordered Texas-based EOG Resources Inc. to suspend its drilling activities in Pennsylvania until DEP has completed an investigation into the spill Thursday at the Punxsutawney Hunting Club. The 16-hour eruption caused no injuries and no fire, and DEP officials on Monday described the environmental damage as "modest" - no fluids reached any streams.

EOG Resources Inc., the natural gas company that state environmental officials rebuked last month over a runaway well in Clearfield County, is unloading nearly a quarter of its Marcellus Shale acreage in Pennsylvania. The Houston company disclosed to investors Friday that it has put 180,000 acres of oil and gas acreage in Texas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania up for sale. The offering includes 51,000 acres in Bradford County, the most active area in northern Pennsylvania for Marcellus drilling.

Hefty fines were justified for the blowout of a Pennsylvania natural-gas well, but the state must do more to prevent pollution by drillers. The Department of Environmental Protection fined EOG Resources Inc. and a subcontractor $400,000 for the accident June 3 in Clearfield County that spewed natural gas, toxic chemicals, and brine for 16 hours. It's the largest penalty imposed for pollution by the state's burgeoning Marcellus Shale gas industry. DEP Secretary John Hanger correctly noted that carelessness by the drilling firms could have led to far worse consequences.

HARRISBURG - In the heftiest fine levied thus far against a Marcellus Shale natural-gas driller, state environmental officials socked a Texas company Tuesday with a $400,000 penalty for failures that caused last month's well blowout in central Pennsylvania. John Hanger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), sharply rebuked EOG Resources Inc. for failing to maintain control of the Clearfield County well, which erupted June 3 and spewed natural gas and toxic wastewater for 16 hours before it could be capped.

HARRISBURG - Untrained employees of a natural-gas drilling company failed to provide sufficient controls on a Marcellus Shale well that blew out last month, and Pennsylvania environmental officials today fined the operators $400,000. John Hanger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said EOG Resources Inc. and a contractor, C.C. Forbes L.L.C., had failed to follow the best industry practices at the well in Clearfield County, which erupted June 3 and spewed natural gas and toxic wastewater for 16 hours before it could be capped.

Pennsylvania environmental regulators have issued nearly 565 citations against Marcellus Shale natural gas operators so far this year - about twice last year's pace. Five companies were responsible for half the violations, and nearly three-quarters of them occurred in five north-central Pennsylvania counties where shale-gas drilling is most intensely concentrated, according to a report by the Department of Environmental Protection sent Wednesday to the state Senate's Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

The blowout and spill at a natural-gas well in central Pennsylvania shows the need for tougher monitoring and better communication between regulators and drillers. It also shows the wisdom of a proposed severance tax on this burgeoning industry, a portion of which would pay for cleaning up hazardous sites. The accident in rural Clearfield County was bad, but it could have been much worse. No workers were hurt and no homes were damaged when the well operated by EOG Resources Inc. blew out June 3, sending a gusher of natural gas and drilling fluid 75 feet into the air. The gusher leaked for 16 hours before a containment team capped the well.

CLEARFIELD, Pa. - Clearfield County has a long history of timber and coal extraction, and many here eagerly welcomed the economic promise of Marcellus Shale natural gas exploration. But the June 3 blowout of a Marcellus gas well was a reminder that natural-resource development does not come without costs. Workers lost control of the well on the Punxsutawney Hunting Club grounds, and it unleashed a combustible 75-foot fountain of natural gas and toxic wastewater. Precious hours were lost when a blowout-control team from Texas was unable to land at the fogged-in regional airport and was diverted to Johnstown, 60 miles away.

Pennsylvania environmental officials Friday allowed EOG Resources Inc. to resume drilling two Marcellus Shale natural gas wells, partially lifting a suspension imposed after an EOG well blew out last week in Clearfield County. The Department of Environmental Protection's order allows the Houston company to restart drilling on two sites at the Punxsutawney Hunting Club, agency spokesman Neil Weaver said. The site where the June 3 blowout occurred is still shut down to allow investigators and cleanup crews to finish work.

CLEARFIELD, Pa. - A Texas petroleum engineer arrived here Thursday to investigate last week's natural gas well blowout for Pennsylvania's environmental agency, which now says contamination from the incident may have migrated into a stream. The Department of Environmental Protection hired John G. Vittitow of Fort Worth to conduct a third-party examination of the accident, the first time an exploration company has lost control of a well since interest in the Marcellus Shale took off. "We wanted additional expertise," said Neil Weaver, DEP's spokesman.