Chief Takes Quick Action to Resolve a Small Spill in Bradford County

DALLAS, May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Chief Oil & Gas LLC  ("Chief") was notified by the Department of Environmental Protection ("DEP") late Monday, May 3 that a routine inspection at the Harris #1H well in Burlington Twp, Bradford County earlier that day showed a small area of impacted vegetation at the location of  the water tanks.  Chief's environmental team inspected the area and discovered that there had been releases at the tanks that affected an area of approximately 40ft by 300ft with between 125-250 bbls of flowback water.  An initial investigation revealed that the primary spill was likely caused by a rush leak from the tank when the valves were opened.  In addition, there was evidence that several valves were not closed properly. The water tanks on location are temporary holding tanks for flowback water from the Harris #1 well.  The flowback water is regularly transported from the location by water haulers that come to the tanks on a regular basis to transfer the flowback water from the temporary tanks to their trucks to be removed from the location.

Remediation efforts began immediately and are expected to be complete by the weekend.  The water tanks are in the process of being removed from the location and the soil from the area excavated.  Seewald Laboratories will conduct screening samples of the excavated soil.  The excavated area will be left open until the lab results are complete (approximately 10 days).  At that point, when Chief and the DEP are assured that the excavated depth was sufficient, new soil will be placed in the area and seeding and mulching will follow.  E&S controls will be installed to avoid any erosion or movement of sediment from exposed soils until seeding and mulching of the area is completed.

Chief's Environmental Manager, Jason de Wolfe commented, "While these incidents are rare, Chief is pleased that DEP has recently increased well inspections and we are assured that between our own regular well inspections as well as those added by the recent increase to DEP staff, that this type of rare incident should be discovered, acknowledged, and remedied very quickly and before the possibility of any environmental harm."

Chief is proud to hire local workers and we will continue to educate our contractors on safety training, like we do our own employees, to stress safety and safety precautions.  Safety is a priority for every aspect of our industry – for our workers and for the environment – and Chief will commit to working with everyone so they understand why each step, while it may seem simple, is so important to overall safety.  We will be holding additional training and educational meetings with local contractors and their drivers to stress the importance of safety measures and paying attention to every detail.  We expect our contract vendors to hold the same appreciation for the environment as we do at Chief.

About Chief Oil & Gas LLC

Based in Dallas, Texas, Chief Oil & Gas is a privately held, independent oil & gas company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas throughout the continental United States.  Since 2007, Chief has drilled more than 60 wells in multiple counties throughout Pennsylvania and West Virginia and has over 600,000 acres leased.

SOURCE Chief Oil & Gas LLC