|
LOS ANGELES –
Averting a potential threat to public
safety, property and the environment,
the California Department of
Conservation has begun work on five
deserted, leaking oil wells in
south-central Los Angeles to ensure they
are properly plugged and abandoned.
The wells are part of
a group of wells formerly owned by
now-defunct and bankrupt Geo Petroleum
in the Rosecrans and Howard Townsite oil
fields. The wells have been idle since
1999. All of the wells are under
pressure, meaning there is the potential
for leaking. Thus far, however, oil is
escaping into the storage cellars of
only five wells.
DOC’s Division of
Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources
already has arranged for the wells’
cellars to be pumped out, ensuring that
no oil escapes to the surrounding area.
The next step is to permanently seal the
wells.
“We want to make sure
the public and the environment are not
at risk by plugging the most problematic
wells immediately,” DOC Director Darryl
Young said. “Certainly there’s the
danger of flammability, but the bigger
concern is the possibility of a major
cleanup. It doesn’t take much oil to
make a big mess, so we’ve declared this
an emergency situation. We will address
the remaining deserted wells as soon as
possible.”
Non-producing wells
are considered “idle” as long as
operators maintain them in accordance
with state regulations and have a plan
to ultimately put them back into
production or plug and abandon them.
There are many such wells around the
state, and they are inspected routinely.
However, when there is no responsible
party to either plug the well or operate
it, the well is considered an “orphan,”
and the state steps in.
DOC’s Division of
Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources
oversees the Orphan Well Plugging Fund,
part of an assessment funded by the
petroleum industry. The division
currently is authorized to spend up to
$1 million per year to plug and abandon
orphan wells. It hires contractors to do
the work and supervises the operation to
make sure the public is protected.
Additionally, Geo Petroleum had a cash
bond on file that will be used to cover
a portion of the plugging work. Since
1977, the Division of Oil, Gas, and
Geothermal Resources has plugged about
1,000 orphan wells at a cost of more
than $12 million. There are more than
700 wells on the waiting list to be
plugged; 28 have been plugged and
abandoned this year.
“We constantly
reassess the prioritization of this
list, taking into account such things as
whether there are obvious hazards, such
as leakage, and whether the wells are in
close proximity to residential areas,”
State Oil and Gas Supervisor Hal Bopp
said. “The wells we’re currently
plugging fit both criteria, so they
became our top priority.”
In the plugging
process, a portable rig is placed over
the well. Cement and special drilling
mud are alternately pumped deep into the
well casing through tubing. When the
cement hardens, it stops oil, gas and
water from entering the well and
migrating to the surface. The mud acts
as a secondary barrier.
The fields in which
the deserted Geo wells are located,
Rosecrans and Howard Townsite, were
discovered in 1924 and 1947,
respectively. The Rosecrans field has a
cumulative production of 84.1 million
barrels (more than 3.5 billion gallons),
with peak production of 7.7 million
barrels in 1925. In 2003, the field
produced 185,500 barrels from 46 wells.
The Howard Townsite field is much
smaller, with cumulative production of
5.98 million barrels (peak of 344,000 in
1951). In 2003, the field’s four active
wells, operated by Power Run Oil, LLC,
produced 10,000 barrels of oil.
California produced
280 millions of barrels of oil in 2003,
a decline of about 9.5 million barrels
from 2002. There are 90,000 wells
statewide, of which 47,000 are producing
oil wells and 1,200 are producing gas
wells. The remaining wells are not
producing currently.
In addition to regulating oil, gas and
geothermal wells, the Department of
Conservation studies and maps
earthquakes and other geologic
phenomena; maps and classifies areas
containing mineral deposits; ensures
reclamation of land used for mining;
administers agricultural and open-space
land conservation programs; and promotes
beverage container recycling.
###
|