Following a home explosion in Firestone, Colorado last month, a petroleum company is conducting inspections on wells near occupied structures.
As The Greeley Tribune reports, a home in Firestone exploded on April 17 when an abandoned gas return line leaked methane and filled the basement with gas. Two men were killed and one woman was severely injured in the blast.
Investigators found that a one-inch return line was improperly capped at the wellhead and severed within 10 feet of the home's foundation.
Following the explosion, the well’s owner, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, shut in 3,000 older vertical wells for inspections and repair. The state also required the company and all other oil and gas operators in the state to inspect and document all flow lines from wells that lie within 1,000 feet of an occupied structure and to make needed repairs by the end of June.
Anadarko is working to permanently disconnect all underground 1-inch low-pressure supply lines from those 3,000 wells that were shut in after the explosion.
