Spills don’t appear to be a serious problem, but returning shut-in wells to production is going slowly in Colorado, where record flooding damaged infrastructure and shut in a considerable amount of oil and gas.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission (COGCC) last week said there were a dozen “notable releases” at operations. There were another 14 sites with evidence of minor releases, such as a sheen in water, as well as 60 sites with visible damage to storage tanks but no known releases.

Several teams of inspectors were in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin and had covered most of the flood-impacted areas, according to a spokesperson. Through last Wednesday, teams had inspected 736 well locations.

Toppled tanks have been the source of numerous spills and access continued to be a problem in many areas, hindering the speed at which the industry can bring back to production the more than 1,900 wells shut in by the record-breaking floods, said a Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA) spokesman.

Notable releases of fuel added up to more than 822 bbl, or 34,524 gallons, COGCC said in a recent accounting. The overall volume equates to nearly three tanks of fuel, given that the typical storage tanks have a 300 bbl capacity.<

Spills reported last week were at a Noble Energy site with a 121 bbl release east of Kersey; a 60 bbl release at a PDC Energy Inc. location east of Greeley; and an unknown volume released at a Mineral Resources Inc. location northwest of LaSalle.

COGA reported that less than 1% of the wells shut had any isolated incidents due to debris-filled flood waters. “Operators continue to work with state and federal regulatory agencies on clean up and remediation,” spokesman Doug Flanders said.

Xcel Energy’s Colorado utility last week still was waiting for some water to recede and roads to reopen.

“In some areas we will need to not only rebuild entire sections of pipeline and install new equipment, but we may need to relocate parts of the system to more stable areas and land not affected by current or potential future floods and washouts,” a utility spokesperson said.