HYTHE — Energy regulators and police say a blowout at a gas well licensed for deadly hydrogen sulphide in northwestern Alberta was almost certainly an industrial accident that poses no public danger.
The blowout occurred early Wednesday morning about 22 kilometres northwest of Hythe.
That’s the same general region that has seen a series of bombings of energy industry facilities over the last year, but RCMP say this blowout was not deliberately set.
“This is not suspicious in nature,” said Cpl. Carole McKinley. “Rather, it is an industrial incident.”
A full crew was working at the Canadian Natural Resources Inc. (TSX:CNQ, CNQ.U) site when the blowout occurred, said Energy and Resources Conservation Board spokesman Bob Curran.
“We have no information about what caused the blowout,” he said. “At this point, it poses no threat to the public.”
The well, which was on fire, is more than seven kilometres from the nearest home. No evacuations have been ordered. Field inspectors and air quality monitors were on the site.
Curran said the fact the well is burning means most, if not all, of the sour gas coming from underground will be consumed.
Convicted oilpatch bomber Wiebo Ludwig told an Edmonton radio station that the fire is not far from his farm.
Ludwig has mounted protests against energy development near his property.
He was arrested and released last month in connection with the RCMP investigation into blasts just across the provincial boundary in British Columbia. He was convicted and served time in prison for his role in a series of energy-industry bombings in Alberta in the late 1990s.