Silent Spill at Ojai 36
June 28, 2013
By Kimberly Rivers
Santa Paula News
What do the Iraqi oil fields and one oil well in Upper Ojai have in common?
The same company - Boots & Coots - and that company’s top man, Don Shackleford put out the fires in Iraq and plugged a problem well in Upper Ojai. Here is the story of that well.
In 2006 on or around March 4, the well casing in ‘Ojai 36’ failed. According the annual production report issued by the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) following a seismic event on March 3 the idle well “began to flow water at five barrels per minute.” That is the equivalent of 210 gallons per minute. Ojai 36 - the name of the well - seems to have first produced oil in 1911 when Bard Oil & Asphalt Company ran it. Over the years it has changed hands several time, as is common in the industry, and in 2006 it was run by Vintage Petroleum which was in the process of being bought by Occidental Petroleum, one of the largest oil (and chemical) companies in the world.
Thousands of gallons of produced water, through what one source called “a rip in the earth” spilled into the Upper Ojai field surrounding the well. Produced water is brackish, and considered hazardous water that is trapped underground with the oil and gas and can contain radioactive compounds, methane, hydrogen sulfide, and any chemicals used during drilling or well stimulation. The field is directly across the street from a Summit Elementary School and several homes are a stones throw away. Residents were not notified. The spill and related well plugging operations lasted from March till June.
In the list of reported spills (DOGGR Spill List)- made public just months ago - from the Ventura office of the DOGGR says this spill occurred on Topa Vista Road. The list reports that salt water is what spilled and that it was “migrating to the surface through annulus”. The annulus is the term for the space between the different parts of the casing. According to DOGGR the casing is designed to prevent any substances (fluids or gases) from migrating at all.
DOGGR says that its regulations are all aimed at well integrity and that is the first and best line of defense against spills and contamination. But basic geology tells us that the condition of the earth is never constant, especially when you are working thousands of feet into the earth. A good well casing yesterday, may not be holding today. In the well record for Ojai 36 on March 12, 2006 (16 days after the problem was found) it is noted, “There are indications of changes in the downhole conditions from previous pumping on the well.” Even when everything is done correctly, no one can control what happens in the earth around the casing thousands of feet underground.
“The EPA estimates that 17 percent of all abandoned onshore wells are improperly plugged,” said John Brooks, president of Citizens for Responsible Oil and Gas (CFROG). “And as we have seen in Upper Ojai, even in properly sealed wells, the cement plugs can fail over time and metal casings in the wells can rust. They say there are 2.5 million abandoned oil and gas wells in the United States and just how secure are they? Many are already hemorrhaging oil, brine and greenhouse gases into the environment just like Ojai 36 did.”
An expert in the industry when it comes to problem wells, Boots & Coots (now owned by Halliburton) was involved from the first day, making recommendations about how to proceed and develop a well “kill procedure outline.” Shackelford, the top guy at Boots & Coots was consulted. Sources in Upper Ojai say that he was flown in from Kazakhstan to assist with the Ojai 36 spill and his name is listed throughout the reports for the plugging operations. Today the well is plugged and buried under the flattened crest of hill that has an oil seep flowing down its side. The field below the hill has recently sold and the soil recently tilled.
“I was unaware [of the Ojai 36 spill] until several weeks ago,” said Rain Perry, resident of Upper Ojai who lives less than a mile from where it occurred. “It required an emergency team be flown in to kill the well. Thinking back, I remember seeing klieg lights across the valley from us for weeks. But residents got no notice that there was an emergency going on. Now I know that some of our neighbors were among those working hard to get it under control.”
Perry said there has not been any independent testing to determine whether or not the cleanup was complete. “And apparently residents are now reporting new seepage from the area. Keep in mind that this is happening half a mile from Summit Elementary School, which was not notified.” Perry says all her neighbors are surprised to hear about the spill. She now says that she is more aware of what is going on.
Perry says that after watching a Western State Petroleum Association spokesperson confidently tell Senator Fran Pavley at a recent hearing in Sacramento that there have never been any casing failures in California, she realized something was amiss. “It’s clear to me that the oil industry is engaged in the practice of hiding information from the public,” she says. “[A casing failure] is exactly what the DOGGR report says occurred at Ojai 36.”
And upon reviewing the DOGGR Spill List she says, “there are casing failures all over the place - dozens of them. So we just cannot believe the industry is telling us anything like the truth. To be honest, watching the WSPA spokesman flat out deny what’s in the public report reminds me of the kid who denies he had a party while his parents were gone and hopes he got all the beer bottles cleaned up before they get home.”
