Only a handful of incidents of hydraulic fracturing affecting other nearby wells have happened in Alberta in the last six years, says the province’s Environmental Resources Conservation Board.
“They’re super rare,” said ERCB spokeswoman Cara Tobin. Since 2005, there have been five similar cases of pressurized fracking fluid moving from one well to another (communicating).
“All of these incidents are under review.”
The ERCB is continuing to investigate a Friday spill from an oil well owned by Calgary’s Wild Stream Exploration Inc. near Gleniffer Lake reservoir. Regulators are looking into whether a fracking operation on a well operated by Calgary-based Midway Energy Ltd. affected Wild Stream’s oil-producing well about one km away.
The problem was discovered by a local landowner who spotted black fluid spewing from a pump jack.
Tobin said ERCB staff were on scene on the weekend and were back there Monday monitoring the situation. Alberta Environment was also notified.
“The cleanup operations are well underway with the majority of the spill already cleaned up,” she said.
The composition of the fluids and the amount that spilled are not yet available. It is believed the liquid is a combination of crude oil and fracking fluid.
“The majority of the spill is likely fracturing fluid with the oil that was in the well also coming up with it.”
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves injecting fluids and sands or other materials into a well under high pressure to open up seams to allow oil or natural gas to flow into the wellbore.
A full report will be made public once it is complete, Tobin said, adding she had no timeline on that yet.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com