Extreme cold weather causing oil spills in North Dakota; 60 reports over past week
BISMARCK, N.D. — Bitterly cold weather is causing a wave of spills in North Dakota’s oil fields and a slowdown in production, regulators say.
North Dakota experienced several days of frigid weather in the Bakken oil fields, with windchills reaching minus 70 degrees (minus 57 degrees Celsius) at times. Regulators say this puts stress on workers and equipment, which can result in accidents that lead to leaks.
More than 60 spills and other environmental problems involving gas or oil have been reported in the past week, according to the state’s spill dashboard.
“This is probably the worst piece I’ve seen since I took over the spill program” a decade ago, Bill Suess, program manager for the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality Spill Investigation, told the Bismarck Tribune.
Public health is not at risk because of the remoteness of the spills, Suess said. The spills mostly involved crude oil and produced water — wastewater that is a byproduct of oil and gas production and contains oil, drilling chemicals and salts. Produced water discharges can cause long-term damage to affected land.
Some companies are already cleaning up despite the extreme cold, while others are waiting until it gets warmer. Suess said that given the extreme conditions, the agency is giving companies some breathing room, but still expects work to begin soon.
“They can’t wait for the spring thaw,” Suess said. “They will have to start working on this in the next week or so.”
Production has fallen during the cold snap, partly because companies are trying to prevent spills, said Ron Ness, chairman of the North Dakota Petroleum Council. North Dakota producers are used to the cold, but “20 degrees lower is a different level,” Ness said.
As of Wednesday morning, the state’s production was estimated to be down 650,000 to 700,000 barrels of oil per day and 1.7 to 1.9 billion cubic feet of gas per day, said Justin Kringstad, executive director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority. By comparison, the state produced an average of 1.24 million barrels of oil per day and 3.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day in October.
Kent Kirkhammer, CEO of Minot-based NewKota Services and Rentals, said only so much can be accomplished under harsh conditions when equipment freezes. He said the company is focused on ensuring employees don’t stay outside for too long.
“When it gets this cold, safety comes first, but we’re just trying to keep things going,” he said.