The 10-week old Cold Lake bitumen spill is expected to stop - basically whenever it stops itself. The company, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., says there's nothing it can do to staunch the leak other than collect whatever bitumen it can from the surface and haul out the dead animals.
On Wednesday morning, the company said in a conference call that it had identified a few older, inactive wells—one of which dates back to 1997—as probable culprits. At least one of the suspect wells were drilled by a prior operator, the company said. When a well casing failed, according to the company, oil started seeping out through the surrounding ground, eventually impacting a 50-acre swath.
...the company said that bitumen—the heavy tar that bitumen - the heavy tar that can be processed into oil - migrated up from an old, compromised wellbore, eventually bubbling up at four different sites. According to the company, it's similar to a 2009 incident at the same site, when the casing of a well failed and bitumen started seeping to the surface.
A well-casing failed? What a fluke. Not. Well casings can deteriorate long after they're capped. Most times they're out of sight and out of mind. That goes for fracked gas wells - in spades. As mentioned yesterday, between 5 to 7% of new oil and gas wells leak, a number that grows to 30 to 50% as those wells age. Oh dear.
