One man remained hospitalized Thursday following a pipe rupture at a north DeSoto Parish gas well site.
That worker and four others were hit by pipe shrapnel, along with a water and gel mixture used in hydraulic fracturing, according to Hal Hickey, chief executive officer of Exco Resources. None of the injuries were understood to be life threatening, the hospitalized man had undergone surgery. The workers, four of whom were treated and released from the hospital, are employed by Cudd Energy Services, a regular Exco subcontractor.
From an environmental standpoint, Hickey said five barrels of the mixture were discharged and all contained at the site. DeSoto fire and sheriff first responders did not report any hazmat issues to state police, who are supposed to be alerted in the case of a hazardous material incident, said spokesman Matt Harris. The state Office of Conservation, which oversees well permits and site locations, did not return phone calls.
Thursday, government regulatory agencies including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were involved in the accident review, said Hickey. Exploration operations are suspended until the oversight agencies and Exco inspectors finish their review at the well site on Gravel Point Road.
Hickey noted that the accident was not a “well-controlled incident’’ and “had nothing to do with subsurface operations.
Hickey said workers had been working on the pipe that transfers fracking fluid to the well. When the feeder pipe was pressurized, the line ruptured at a junction point.
Exco has had as many as 22 drilling operations at one time in the Haynesville Shale, Hickey said. At present it has only five drilling operations in northwest Louisiana and only the one well in the “fracture stimulation’’ phase.
An Exco well was in the headlines in 2010 when more than 100 families were evacuated in south Caddo Parish when gas vapors were detected at a well site on Norris Ferry Road because of high pressure in the well. State environmental tests detected natural gas present in the local aquifer, affecting several private water wells.