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Pennsylvania DEP, Shell Investigating Tioga County Methane Release
Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Shell Appalachia are investigating a methane gas migration issue first discovered last week in Tioga County, PA.
Water flow from a June 16 water and methane release near Shell’s operations in Union Township stopped flowing by Monday and pressure has been “significantly reduced,” according to Shell Appalachia spokeswoman Deborah Sawyer. “Shell continues to investigate and address the release, which has appeared in two private water wells and a nearby creek,” she said.
No determination has been made regarding the source of the methane, according to DEP spokesman Dan Spadoni, who said Shell is cooperating with DEP’s investigation. “There has been a considerable reduction in gas expressions at all locations, likely due to Shell’s activities at their well pads to reduce the pressures subsurface,” Spadoni said.
DEP Office of Oil and Gas Management at the site is monitoring surface expressions and continuing its investigation, Spadoni said.
The release was first noticed at an overflowing drinking water well in a hunting cabin located about 2,400 feet away from Shell’s Guindon K 706 well pad. “Bubbling was also noted at multiple locations in a nearby stream,” Spadoni said. DEP has recommended the cabin not be occupied until further notice.
Shell reported the release to DEP on June 17 and since then has taken several steps to remediate and investigate the incident, Sawyer said. As a precaution the company suspended completion operations in Union Township and requested voluntary evacuations of four nearby properties. Additional surface expressions of gas along a road leading to the cabin were discovered on June 18 and Shell placed security guards at both ends of the road to limit access.
Shell is monitoring water quality and additional subsurface data, as well as measuring methane levels in the air. In an effort to further reduce gas pressure subsurface Shell is flowing some of its wells to flares, since production infrastructure is not yet in place. Shell is excavating in a secured control zone to confirm the location of a 1930s abandoned well in order to determine if it might be contributing to the release, Sawyer said.
Shell subsidiary SWEPI LP and East Resources, which Royal Dutch Shell plc bought in 2010, operate several wells in Union Township.
Operators spud 123 wells in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale in May, a decline of 15.8% from May 2011, and the decline was most noticeable in Tioga County, where only four wells were spud last month (see Shale Daily, June 8).
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