Chevron Looking to Curb Fire at Pennsylvania Gas Well

Chevron Corp. said a Pennsylvania well continues to burn for a second day as the company seeks to shut off the flow of natural gas at the site south of Pittsburgh.

“We are developing a site-specific safety plan to identify and establish mitigation plans for all potential hazards associated with extinguishing the fire and controlling the well,” Kent Robertson, a spokesman for San Ramon, California- based Chevron, said in an e-mail today. “We have secured specialized firefighting equipment and are preparing a location to serve as a staging area.”

Lanco Unit 7H in Greene County, Pennsylvania, caught fire yesterday morning as the well was in the final stage of development before starting to produce gas. One worker was taken to the hospital with injuries and another is still missing.

The missing worker is employed by Cameron International Corp., Sharon Sloan, a spokeswoman for the Houston-based oilfield equipment provider, said today in a phone interview. Sloan declined to give the worker’s name.

Chevron is monitoring the air as well as surface waters in the area for any effects stemming from the fire. It has brought in a crew from Superior Energy Services Inc.’s Wild Well Control to help assess the options.

(Editors: Jasmina Kelemen, Steven Frank)