Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
This undated photo shows the Rush Lake 2 site of the blowout. The North Saskatchewan River can be seen in the background, 2 kilometres away. Facebook
MAIDSTONE – On May 9, Cenovus Energy had an explosive pressure release to the surface from its Rush Lake 2 thermal facility.
That facility is on the upper plateau of the west bank of the North Saskatchewan River, 21 kilometres due east of Maidstone. Aerial photos available on social media show the impacted area is a well pad is across the road, immediately east of the Rush Lake 2 facility. The well pad in question is approximately two kilometres from the riverbank, and on the plateau just above the valley slopes.
That photo shows a blackened area around what appears to be a hole in the ground with berm around it. A video also circulating on social media shows a release of steam with some black substance in it, although it’s unclear if that black substance is oil or dirt.
This is a screenshot of the explosive release for a well east of the Rush Lake 2 thermal facility. Facebook
According to the Saskatchewan Mining and Petroleum GeoAtlas, well pairs originating from that well pad run almost straight southwest from the pad, away from the river. None of the wells from that pad or the adjacent pads run towards the river or below the slopes of the river valley.
The red starburst in the centre indicates the approximate location of the blowout, as correlated from the top photo above. This is a map of wellbores in the area, according to the Saskatchewan GeoAtlas
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Cenovus responded by email on May 15, saying the following:
- “Cenovus continues to safely and effectively respond to the well release incident at the Rush Lake 2 thermal facility. The release is primarily water vapour and dirt from the well site.
- “Our immediate focus is on our response. We have numerous employees and contractors working on site.
- “Berms are in place to isolate the impacted area and there is no evidence of any impacts on nearby water bodies or wildlife. As a precaution, Cenovus is monitoring nearby water bodies on an ongoing basis.
- “All appropriate regulators and neighbouring municipalities have been notified. We are in regular communication with the local representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Resources to update them on our activities.
- “We are updating residents living within a five-kilometre radius of the facility. Cenovus is working with local area farmers to ensure they have access to their lands for seasonal farming.
- “All workers are accounted for, and no injuries have been reported.
- “Our immediate focus is on our response. Once the matter is resolved, we will undertake a thorough investigation into the cause and use what we learn to further improve our operations.”
The white circle in the centre indicates the approximate location of the blowout, as correlated from the photo above. The North Saskatchewan River is 2 kilometres to the east, according to Google Maps.
Regulator response
Assistant Deputy Minister of Energy and Resources Rebecca Gibbons spoke to Pipeline Online on May 15 about the incident. She said, “Cenovus has had an uncontrolled release at the Rush Lake thermal area in the RM of Paynton. And so as a result of that, operations have been shut down, and crews continue to work to mitigate the impact of the release and gather further information to determine the source. We became aware that Cenovus shut this facility down on May the ninth.”
She continued, “We are still working to continue to confirm what substances have been detected, and the cause of the releases.”
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“The incident is still in the phase of ensuring public and environmental safety, and so once you’re under control, we’ll actually move to fact finding and the cause and analysis around that.
“I should also point out that the risk of the public is extremely low, and so anything associated with their releases have been shut down and with work being conducted to manage the incident and to determine the cause,” Gibbons said.
Asked if there was any sheen detected on the North Saskatchewan River, two kilometres away, Gibbons responded, “Right now in terms of the environmental impacts, it’s too early to say at this time, so that will be part of the ongoing response process.”
“Work is continuing to confirm which substances have been detected, and the cause of the releases. So there was some indication that some produced oil from the reservoir, water, steam, drilling mud and low amounts of H2S were present in the release.
Her understanding was that the facility, that thermal area, has been shut down.
The well license for one of the injector wells drilled from that pad and in the general vicinity of the blowout indicated a true vertical depth of 436 metres. The terminating stratigraphic unit is the Sparky Member. There are eight Rotoflex jacks on that pad, according to the photo.
Asked what the next step was, Gibbons said, “As the regulator, the Ministry of Energy and Resources, are the ones that are involved in responding to an incident like this. We also are in contact with our colleagues at the Ministry of Environment as well.”
“We’re on site and assisting in the response,” she said.
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