An oil rig in Lavaca County blew out on a Wednesday in the Eagle Ford Shale and crews were still working to cap it off and put out a resulting fire on Friday. There were no injuries reported as a result of the oil rig explosion at a site owned by EOG Resources.
The South Texas rig explosion took place near Victoria; investigators were unsure what prompted the initial blast. The well has since been capped and the area surrounding it was monitored for dangerous gases by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Common Causes Of OilRig Blowouts
Drilling for oil in a high-pressure zone is typically blamed for an oilrig blowout. However, most if not all oil and gas exploration is done in high-pressure zones. Why don’t we hear about blowouts more often?
Drilling procedures have improved and evolved over time, to prevent serious accidents from occurring and causing injury to oil and gas workers and in response to serious accidents that have had devastating consequences.
Surface casing or cementing is one safety technique used to prevent blowouts. This creates a makeshift lid on the oilwell and is tended to hold up to the pressure to prevent a blowout.
Oil-based drilling mud or weighted mud is another technique used to prevent blowouts. The mud is used to lubricate the rigging; weight is added to the mud so that it will balance the materials that are wanting to explode from the well.
Blow out preventer stacks or BOPs are another line of blowout defense.
Source: WHTC, “EOG Resources says Texas well fire nearly out,” August 30, 2013