West Virginia Natural Gas Well Explosion

Seven people were injured after a cloud of methane gas ignited, triggering an explosion at a natural Natural Gas Drilling site near Moundsville, West Virginia on June 7, 2010. A 50-foot-high flare created by the explosion was expected to burn for several days.

The well was operated by Chief Oil and Natural Gas, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The firm had hired a Texas contractor, Union Drilling, to drill the well. According to media reports, Union Drilling has had more than two dozen violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace safety rules and been fined a total of $226,000 in the past five years at drilling sites in five states.

The explosion occurred when a Union crew struck a pocket of methane gas while sinking the natural gas well through an abandoned coal mine. It is not known what caused the methane to ignite.

All seven workers on the rig, two employed by subcontractor BJ Tubular Services of Houston and five from Union Drilling, suffered burns and were taken to the West Penn Burn Center in Pittsburgh.. Two remain hospitalized, but their injuries are not considered life threatening.

The well was located in the Marcellus Shale, a formation rich in natural gas that lies beneath parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Maryland. The area has seen the rapid expansion of hydraulic fracturing in recent years.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has started an investigation of the accident, and is considering possible responses. This could include ordering a halt to all drilling and fracking by the companies involved.

OSHA also sent two inspectors to the site and is pursuing interviews with all of the workers on the rig.

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