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Show SMOTHERING BIBif GAS WELL DIFFICULT The work of extinguishing a burning gas well with a now of 30.000,000 cubic feet per day. is described in a recent issue of the Engineering anl Mining Journal. On the evening of June 1, 1919. well No. 4 of the Standard Oil company of California Cali-fornia in Elk hills came in as a heavy gusher and caught fire. The ten-inch casing had been cemented at 25C0 feet, and the well was being bailed to test the water shutoff. Gas broke in, shooting the bailer up into the derrick. The drillers were able to close the head valve and reach a point of safety. The pressure became so great that the valve was torn from the casing. Undoubtedly the friction fric-tion of tearing ihe casing caused the gas to ignite. No one was injured. The capacity of the well was estimated at 30,000,000 cubic feet per day. The company decided to smother the 1 well with steam. Considerable machinery, such as a rotary drilling outfit, drill stem, i drown blocks and piping was close to the ! well. Naturally, this metal was red-hot, I and, unless removed before smothehing I the well, would ignite the gas again. A I fire screen of corrugated iron, about eight feet high and twenty-five feet long, was constructed and carried to the edge of the junk pile by several men. Other men followed with streams of water, playing it on the screen, on the ground and on the men. The men were equipped with heavy woolen clothing and asbestos shoes. A drag cable was carried up behind the screen, and. working in short periods, the men were able to remove all the hot metal. While this was going on, a battery f five boilers had been set up about 200 yards away from the well. These boilers, together with ten drilling boilers at other wells; supplied the steam. From different differ-ent directions three steam lines were laid as near to the well as possible without protection. Sections of pipe were made up long enough to reach the remaining distance to the well. Under the protection of the fire screen, these sections were carried to the collar of the well and connection waa made to the lines leading from the boilers. Steam was turned into these lines simultaneously. simultaneous-ly. The first two attempts to smother the well -were failures because of insufficient insuf-ficient steam. After slight changes were made in the method of supplying the steam, the third attempt was successful. The following day the ground had cooled sufficiently to permit an examination of the casing, which was found to be intact to the bottom of the first joint. A control valve has been put on the well. The gas flowed freely through a four-inch opening under a pressure of 210 pounds per square inch. |