An initial incident report by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and its probe of the deadly gas-rig explosion near Quinton indicated no cause as of yet.
Released under the Oklahoma Open Records law, the OCC report stated the well will be plugged as the investigation continues.
“Kill well with heavy drilling mud,” recommended investigator Curtis Hope in his report filed Tuesday, a day after the Red Mountain Operating rig exploded, leaving 5 workers unaccounted for. As of Tuesday afternoon, their bodies had not been recovered from the site in Pittsburg County.
Hope had other recommendations such as, “Operator is to remove all freestanding contaminants from location and runoff. Soil sample affected areas to determine the extent of pollution.”
“Operator requested plugging instructions to control wellbore until future work can proceed,” added the OCC investigator. He recommended setting a bottom cement plug from 7,087 feet to 6,787 feet, an intermediate plug from 5,000 feet to 4,700 feet and a top plug from 2,445 feet to 2,145 feet.
“Well is to be stabilized with heavy mud and set cement plugs as soon as possible,” urged Hope. “Soil samples will be taken no later than February 23, 2018 per OCC rules and regulations.”
The incident and complaint investigation report indicated there had been a discharge of oil based mud and other contaminants from the wellbore during the fire. However, it also indicated there had been no release of oil and no body of water had been affected by the incident. No fish kill was reported since the rig was apparently not close to any streams or rivers.
“Contaminated water from diesel and drilling fluids migrated off location to the East into ditch along county road,” continued the report.
A “confirmed” violation was cited by Hope in his report. He identified the well fire at the Pryor Trust 1H-9 in Pittsburg County and indicated violations of 3 separate OCC rules and regulations.
“Patterson rig 219 was on fire from uncontrolled gas release. Employee attempted to close blind rams and shut off well,” stated the report.
The fire was finally extinguished Monday afternoon by the Boots and Coots well control specialist company that was called to the scene.
