State Works To Plug Leaking Natural Gas Well In Bartlesville

By Craig Day, The News On 6

BARTLESVILLE, OK -- An old, leaking gas well is prompting immediate action by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. 

Just off Highway 75 in Bartlesville at the Furniture Factory Outlet, you might expect to find good deals. But what was discovered out back is a bad deal, all the way around -- an old purging natural gas well. It meets the criteria for the highest severity level.

"Drilled back at the turn of the century, nobody knew it was here. We have no records on this well," said John Hurd, Corporation Commission Inspector.

"We had an odor that had been in our building this last week," said Lynn Mixon, store manager.

ONG crews doing an inspection found the well. Since it's in such a populated area, it ranks as the most severe on the corporation commission's well plugging priority scale. That means the state is taking immediate action.

"The Corporation Commission is really serious about taking care of immediate problems," said Hurd.

"Definitely something that doesn't happen every day," said Mixon.

Contractors for the state will pump concrete down the 600-foot deep well to plug it, which is expensive, but necessary in this case due to the well's location.

"I guess this is where the oil field really got started," said Billy Pierce of P & P Cementing.

Oil and gas producers pay fees into an abandoned well plugging fund, which is tapped into, especially for emergency cases. Jobs like this one are rare, but not out of the ordinary.

"We have too many businesses, and too much traffic going by here to take a chance," said Hurd.

Although not all of them require immediate action, the state plugged 371 abandoned wells last fiscal year. This one should be finished in a couple of days.

One thing that worked in their favor on this case is that the wind Tuesday was so strong, it dissipated the gas until the leak was contained.