Chesapeake halts fracking ops at several PA well sites after blowout

After a blowout at natural gas well in a Bradford County, PA last week, Chesapeake Energy will suspend all hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) operations at several of the company’s sites in Pennsylvania. The blowout occurred at the Atgas 2H well during a fracking operation, leading to spilling of thousands of gallons of drilling fluid and water.

According to the Associated Press, thousands of gallons of produced water flowed back out of the well, crossing farm fields and entering a stream. Chesapeake stopped the leak by using materials such as ground up tires and plastic at plug the well.

Chesapeake is working to permanently seal the well and investigate the cause of the blowout.

The company stated that it has suspended fracking operations on seven well sites in Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: Workers were able to replace the damaged wellhead on the well Monday night, April 25. According to Chesapeake, the malfunctioning wellhead was part of the cause of last week's accident.