
Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online

This is a screenshot of the explosive release for a well east of the Rush Lake 2 thermal facility. Facebook
Cenovus Energy reported on July 31 that it had finally brought its Rush Lake blowout under control. The initial blowout began on May 9.
In an emailed statement, Cenovus said, “Cenovus Energy has safely controlled the well that caused the steam release to surface at its Rush Lake thermal oil facility.
“With the well now under control, we continue to perform completion activities to fully isolate the well and are preparing for cleanup and remediation of the site. As of July 17, the vapour release that had produced odours in the region has been eliminated.

The red starburst in the centre indicates the approximate location of the blowout, as correlated from the photo above. This is a map of wellbores in the area, according to the Saskatchewan GeoAtlas
“The steam release is from a casing failure in an injection well, and we are undertaking a thorough investigation that will determine the root cause of that failure. We will continue to work with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources throughout the investigation and share the results with them. Cenovus is committed to continuous improvement, and what we learn from this incident investigation will assist us in further enhancing overall safety and performance at our thermal operations.
“The complexity of the response led to the duration of the incident and the odours, which we know adversely impacted our neighbours. We sincerely apologize for this and we’ll continue to communicate with the people and communities to provide updates as new information becomes available.”
- 0098 SASPO-2874_Self Serve Campaign_New Connects_Youtube_v30098 SASPO-2874_Self Serve Campaign_New Connects_Youtube_v3
- 0100 Turnbull Project Manager0100 Turnbull Project Manager
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD0097 Eagle Sky Ventures LTD
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001