DENVER — A second petroleum company said it would shut down and inspect wells after a fatal house explosion near a gas well in Colorado, although investigators have not said if the well was the cause.
Great Western Oil & Gas Co. said it would check 61 of its wells and hoped all would be shut down by Thursday. It did not say where the wells were, and a company spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
It comes after Anadarko Petroleum announced Wednesday that it was shutting down and inspecting 3,000 wells after the April 17 explosion in the town of Firestone, which killed two people and badly burned a third. Anadarko owns a gas well within 200 feet (60 meters) of the house.
Fire officials said they had not determined the cause of the explosion, but the well was part of the investigation.
State regulators said they had not found evidence of leaks from the well but were still running tests. They said they did not believe nearby homes were in immediate danger.
The well was drilled in 1993. State records show it was shut down all of last year and resumed production in January, although the records do not show the reasons. Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
The well was last inspected in 2014 and received a “satisfactory” rating.
The nearby houses, including the one that exploded, were built after the well was drilled.
The other wells Anadarko is shutting down are about the same age as the one in Firestone. They were drilled vertically instead of using later technology that allows wells to be drilled first vertically and then horizontally to reach distant oil and gas formations.
Anadarko’s action prompted Boulder County, just west of Firestone, to issue a public statement Thursday asking energy companies to shut down and inspect all vertical wells there, about 300 total.
“We really appreciate the fact that they (Anadarko) are trying to be cautious,” Michelle Krezek, a deputy to the county commissioners, said Friday. “For us, if there’s a potential for a hazard, then we should be shutting down all those types of wells, not just Anadarko’s.”
Krezek said the county has no authority to require operators to shut down their wells.
