DEP Inspection Finds Two Repsol Oil & Gas Shale Gas Wells Venting Natural Gas To Atmosphere, Defective Well Casing/Cementing In Susquehanna County; Violations Continue From May 2017

During an April 4 routine inspection, the Department of Environmental Protection found two Repsol Oil and Gas USA LLC shale gas wells in Apolacon Township, Susquehanna County venting natural gas to the atmosphere through the well annulus at the Kropp Well Pad.

The DEP inspection found defective well casing and cementing the operator failed to report to the agency and failed to correct within 30 days.

The inspection reports note these violations at this location for these two wells have continued since they were first discovered on May 23, 2017.

There are 12 shale gas wells producing natural gas on the Kropp Well Pad.

DEP Inspection Reports: Kropp Well 1H and Kropp Well 7H.

So far in 2023, DEP issued Repsol Oil and Gas  53 notices of violations at more than a dozen shale gas well pads, including several on DCNR State Forest drilling sites.

Visit DEP’s Oil and Gas Compliance Database for more information.

(Photos: Top- Kropp Well Pad, Leaking 1H Shale Gas Well; Bottom- Production Tank left on Kropp Well Pad, Leaking 7H Shale Gas Well from DEP inspection reports.)

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - March 25 to 31; More Violations At Equitrans Gas Storage Area; Spring Walk Yields Hissing Gas Well On State Game Lands  [PaEN]  

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - April 1  [PaEN] 

PA Oil & Gas Compliance Reports

-- Feature: 60 Years Of Fracking, 20 Years Of Shale Gas: Pennsylvania’s Oil & Gas Industrial Infrastructure Is Hiding In Plain Sight [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Failed To File Annual Production/Waste Generation Reports For 61,655 Wells; Attorney General Continues Investigation Of Road Dumping Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issued 754 Notices Of Violation For Defective Oil & Gas Well Casing, Cementing, The Fundamental Protection Needed To Prevent Gas Migration, Groundwater & Air Contamination, Explosions  [PaEN]

-- DEP Report Finds: Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Routinely Abandon Wells; Fail To Report How Millions Of Gallons Of Waste Is Disposed; And Non-Compliance Is An ‘Acceptable Norm’  [PaEN]

-- DEP 2021 Oil & Gas Program Annual Report Shows Conventional Oil & Gas Operators Received A Record 610 Notices Of Violation For Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industry Has Record Year: Cost, Criminal Convictions Up; $3.1 Million In Penalties Collected; Record Number Of Violations Issued; Major Compliance Issues Uncovered; Evidence Of Health Impacts Mounts  [PaEN] 

Related Article This Week:

-- Ohio Research Confirms Health, Environmental Hazards In Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Wastewater Dumped On Roads, Just Like In PA  [PaEN]

-- April 5 Webinar Features Panel Discussion On Radioactivity And Oil & Gas Development, University Of Pittsburgh Radiation Oncologist  [PaEN]

-- PJM This Week Sends Penalty Assessments Of Up To $2 Billion To Electric Generators That Failed To Perform During December’s Winter Storm Elliot; Natural Gas Power Plants Had 63% Of Outages  [PaEN]

-- Homer City Coal-Fired Power Plant To Close In Indiana County; Low Price Of Natural Gas, High Price Of Coal, Regulatory Burdens, RGGI Cited As Causes; Solar Projects Waiting To Fill Gap  [PaEN]

[Posted: April 5, 2023]  PA Environment Digest