Texas-Blowout Near Yorktown, No Injuries

Crews under the employ of EOG Resources managed to regain control of a potentially dangerous situation last week. 

Late in the afternoon on January 26, a workover crew performing operations on the well located off of Leo Nelson Road lost control of the well. A well control company was called in, butthe well was not capped until January 30 around 11am. Creighto Welch with EOG Resources’ Government Relations and Communications office informed the News-View that all employess were present and accounted for, and that no fire ever broke out. 

From the road, crews could be observed jetting water into the emissions from the well to help prevent ignition. The cleanup phase of this incident could be quite expensive and time consuming, as oil, mud and water could be seen in aerial photographs of the site.

A seperate incident on January 24 sent a tanker driver to the hospital with burns after a fire started on a well pad in Hobson, North of Runge.

With the increase of oilfield production and traffic, also come the potential increase in accidents and incidents related to the performance of the jobs necessary. In a Center for Disease Control report on the first six months of 2014, it lists 43 fatalities of oilfield employess performing job related tasks. A seperate CDC study stated that between 2003 and 2006, the oilfield suffered on-the-job fatality rates seven times higher than any other industry. A U.S. Department of Labor study found oilfield workers accounted for 1,189 fatalities in the workplace between 2003 and 2013. During that same time, Texas accounted for 216 oilfield deaths between the years of 2008 and 2012.

Source: Cuero Record