Exploration & Production | Top Story | Incidents / Accidents
Magnum Hunter Successfully Caps Utica Stalder Blowout Well
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Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation has reported that the previously announced blowout of the Company's Utica Shale well, the Stalder 3UH, located in Monroe County, Ohio which occurred on December 13, 2014, is now under control and the well has been temporarily capped. Wild Well Control has successfully replaced the Stalder 3UH's well head assembly. Due to the gas content being ~97% methane, there is currently no evidence of environmental damage to the immediate area as a result of the blowout. Additionally, no personnel have been injured in connection with the well control operations on the Stalder Pad.
Initial well control operations involved excavation around the well head to properly evaluate the condition of the well head flange and night cap. Fresh water was continually sprayed on the well head to reduce the chance of ignition of the natural gas. Initially, attempts to push the night cap back over the flange with a track hoe and a crane were unsuccessful. Wild Well Control then began the process of replacing the well head assembly. As part of this process, the individual casing strings were cut in a number of different places. The new well head was then installed and the well was shut in earlier today. The pad site will now be brought back to its original condition, and the Company anticipates that all wells on the Stalder Pad will be placed on production sometime in January 2015.
Magnum Hunter continues to believe that there has been no damage to the overall structure or integrity of the Stalder 3UH well and that the loss of control of the Stalder 3UH well has not affected Magnum Hunter's three other Utica Shale wells (the Stalder #6UH, #7UH and #8UH), and the one Marcellus Shale well (the Stalder #2MH), all located on the Company's Stalder Pad.
Additionally, Magnum Hunter and its subsidiaries maintain customary control of well insurance coverage through multiple shared-risk co-insurance companies. Magnum Hunter believes that its control of well insurance will be adequate to cover all losses incurred by it in connection with the blowout of the Stalder 3UH well (subject to the normal retention amount of the insurance policy).