Up to 20 trucks will carry a drilling rig to Diamond Valley in the latest attempt to cap a leaking gas well on the town’s western edge.
The Katana Resources British Dominion #3 well was drilled in 1930 and decommissioning it has proved to be a difficult task for the Orphan Well Association.
Contractors are going to make another attempt to cap the well this month, the OWA told Foothills County council on Jan. 8.
The well is leaking a minor amount of methane. Every day, it releases the amount of gas a barbecue would use in one hour on the highest setting, the OWA said.
OWA manager Dave Marks said the well doesn’t present a safety risk but decommissioning it has proven to be no easy task.
“We’ve been on this well a number of times over the years,” Marks said.
The nearest homes are about 130 metres away, on the western edge of Diamond Valley near the Country Meadows subdivision, the OWA said.
Almost two-dozen truck loads will bring a full-size drilling rig to the site, where it will operate 24 hours a day.
The equipment will travel on Highway 22, and the biggest disruptions will be moving the rig in and out of the well site.
Work is expected to take two weeks. Nearby residents have been notified, and mitigation measures will be in place, the OWA said.
Attempts to decommission the 1,770-metre-deep well in 1996 and 2021 failed, and the OWA said there is no guarantee this attempt will be a success.
