Leak remains uncontrolled at natural gas storage field
A natural gas storage well in Cambria County has been leaking gas for 10 days, blanketing the mountains in Jackson Township with a roar like a jet engine and its valleys with an odor of hydrocarbons.
Equitrans Midstream Corp., which owns the well, has estimated that the leak may be around 100 million cubic feet a day.
The figure is preliminary and has likely fluctuated as the Canonsburg-based company and the specialized well control firm that it brought in have struggled and, so far, failed to kill the well.
At that rate, the well may have already dispensed about 10% of the gas that was recently injected into the Rager Mountain Storage field in preparation for winter.
The situation has also put the community on edge, as initial assurances that the issue would be resolved in a day or two melted into more than a week of noise and malodors.
The problem materialized on a Sunday afternoon on Nov. 6. One of 10 wells that tap into a large natural gas storage field there had lost pressure and was gushing gas through a side valve.
There was no way to cut off the supply as pipeline operators can do by isolating a leaking section. The well had at its disposal a winterready stockpile of natural gas — some 9 billion cubic feet at a pressure of around 3,000 pounds per square inch.
Heather Shepherd, who lives on Dishong Mountain Road, came home that afternoon and couldn’t understand the roar in the air.
“You know how an airplane goes over you and it’s real low?” she said.
Her husband said it must be the gas company releasing pressure from a pipe. Sometimes that happens, but it always stops. This noise just kept going. Still is.
When she stepped outside to walk her puppy, the smell was so bad she had to cover her nose and mouth.
“It was horrible, horrible, horrible,” she said.
Equitrans representatives visited her house, as they did others in the area. Some residents were offered hotel rooms if they felt unsafe, although they were assured they were in no danger. They were also told the company would likely have the problem fixed within a day or two.
But the well has proven resistant.
Equitrans mobilized Cudd Well Control, a specialized company that deals with these kinds of emergencies. Its officials were on site almost right away.
But the equipment they needed took another day or two to arrive and set up. Then a change in wind direction meant the equipment had to be moved again. When Cudd finally got into the well, it encountered something in the wellbore — an obstruction that took another day to investigate and clear.
The gas is still flowing, meanwhile, with another attempt scheduled for Thursday.
Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for the company, said once the well is under control, Equitrans will conduct a root cause analysis and “until that time, we are not providing any speculative details as to the cause.”
State and federal environmental and safety agencies responded to the incident.