DENVER (KDVR) — It’s been almost two months since an oil and gas well “control incident” in Weld County, wherein oil, gas and water were sprayed feet into the air for nearly four days.
The fracking well, owned by Chevron, experienced a blowout while a contractor was installing a “production tree” on the well on April 6. On Thursday, the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission announced it was issuing a notice of alleged violation to Noble Energy, a subsidiary of Chevron, for the well control incident.
Causes of Weld County oil and gas well blowout identified: Chevron
The notice includes six alleged violations related to well control, general safety requirements, oil and gas facilities operations, water and general environment pollution and natural gas venting.
“I want to note that, importantly, regardless of who or what causes an accident, spill, leak or other incident on an oil and gas location, the ECMC holds the operator of record accountable for the operations conducted on their location as the control of the location is solely in their hands,” said Jeff Deranleau, ECMC’s deputy director of operations…