Thibodeaux #3; Amelia, LA

Amelia, LA | 2000-Dec-19

Initial Notification: On the Morning of 19 December, the NOAA SSC was notified of a well blow-out near Amelia, a small town near Morgan City, LA. The well location was reported at 29 degrees 37' 42.92" N Lat. and 91 degrees 04' 33.77" W Long. and adjacent to the ICW. NOAA was requested to provide weather and plume trajectory support. The initial report suggested that a well pressure surge had resulted in the well head blow-out preventor structure and secondary distribution valves (a.k.a. the Christmas Tree) being blown off followed by the well "bridging-over." Bridging-over is a term which refers to sand or other debris filling pore spaces around the well bore in the formation essentially shutting-off or reducing flow. At first light, no gas was reported escaping from the well and only approximately 2 barrels of oil were observed in the water. The source was characterized as a 9.5/8 casing which was producing at 15,000 psi. A one mile safety zone was immediately established and the ICW closed. The NOAA SSC responded on-scene and briefed the USCG Port Captain on the information provided by the NOAA Scientific Support Team in Seattle, WA (the Home Team). As more information became available, the probable cause of the incident shifted to an explosion of a gas drying system immediately adjacent to the well head. The explosion knocked off the Christmas tree, but immediately (with 5-10 seconds) the subsurface safety system engaged shutting in the line and preventing further release of gas and oil (the system worked as designed). Wild well control specialist were brought in to install addition safety valves. At noon, the well was classified as under control, and the ICW was again opened. USCG district 8.