Aspect Resources LLC of Denver, CO abandoned its plans to cap a10,000-foot blown-out natural gas well in Anahuac, TX, yesterday,opting instead to install a flare to burn off the escaping gas.Crews had tried unsuccessfully through the day Wednesday and intothe early morning yesterday to cap the well, which has spewednatural gas since a blowout during drilling last Saturday.

About 130 families had been evacuated and asked to stay inmotels, and Aspect was picking up the bill for displacement.Anahuac is about 35 miles east of Houston. No injuries werereported, and the Texas Department of Public Safety said theevacuation had merely been a precaution.

The well, located in a Chambers County rice field, blew out lastweekend when drillers hit an unexpected gas pocket and theequipment failed following a pressure drop. Residents within atwo-and-a-half mile radius were asked to voluntarily evacuate.

Yesterday, blow-out experts on the scene were pulling the gasrig off of the site with a bulldozer, and were planning to attachequipment to link to a flare line so that the escaping gas couldsafely burn off.

Alex Campbell, vice president of Aspect, said there were “a lotof unknowns that needed to be evaluated,” but said that thecompany’s main priority was to get the well under control and to”make sure it was safe.”

Campbell said Aspect may flare the gas for as long as threeweeks if the company is given permission to do so, and then build aone-and-a-half mile pipeline to divert the gas and clear the way torepair the well.

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