Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumRoaring Like A Jet Engine, PA Well Leaks 1 BCF Of Clean, Green Natural Gas In Just 10 Days
A natural gas storage well in Cambria County has been leaking gas for 10 days, blanketing the mountains in Jackson Township with a roar like a jet engine and its valleys with an odor of hydrocarbons.
Equitrans Midstream Corp., which owns the well, has estimated that the leak may be around 100 million cubic feet a day. The figure is preliminary and has likely fluctuated as the Canonsburg-based company and the specialized well control firm that it brought in have struggled and, so far, failed to kill the well.
At that rate, the well may have already dispensed some 1 billion cubic feet of gas, about 10% of the gas that was recently injected into and held at the Rager Mountain Storage facility in preparation for winter. By comparison, the Aliso Canyon storage well that leaked for 118 days in California in 2015 and 2016 and is believed to have been the largest methane leak in history, was estimated to have released 4.62 billion cubic feet in total.
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At the storage field, Equitrans said that gas flows into and out of Rager Mountain have been suspended, and there is no estimate for when the facility will return to full service. However, the company did start flowing gas from four other wells on the site in order to relieve the pressure in the field, after consulting with regulators. That gas is enough for the company to meet customer commitments thus far, Ms. Cox said. Equitrans has not yet had to restrict nominations, or requests for gas.
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https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2022/11/17/methane-leak-storage-field-well-uncontrolled-cambria-county-natural-gas-equitrans-midstream-rager/stories/202211160107
gab13by13
(20,872 posts)I was hunting one day in Pa. back in the 70's, and came upon an old gas well oozing slime that would eventually reach a creek.
There are probably millions of old gas and oil wells uncapped across the United States.
hatrack
(59,446 posts)Equivalent to about 660,000 tons of carbon dioxide, or per EPA's carbon equivalency calculator, burning 3,644 rails cars of coal, or driving a passenger car for 1.6 billion miles.
https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator
Clean and green!!!