Italy's first onshore well blowout is under control, and authorities are assessing environmental damage and investigating the cause.
Agip SpA's No. 24 development well in Trecate oil field in northern Italy's Po Valley apparently kicked Feb. 28 when drillstring was being pulled from the hole at a depth of 5,720 m. Agip closed the rams in the blowout preventer stack and installed a top drive on the well.
The string parted, causing loss of control, and the well blew out through the drillstring, spewing a column of oil mixed with water and gas 100 m into the air. There were no injuries.
The wild well flowed at as much as 1,400 b/d of oil, spilling crude for 3 days, when flow abruptly dwindled as a result of pressure decline or bridging over. Agip had sent in a rig to drill a relief well, although that later proved unnecessary.
It brought in Wild Well Control Inc., Houston, to help control the well, but details of later control efforts are undisclosed. The well was fully under control Mar. 2.
The blowout produced a 40 m wide vapor cloud that mixed with rain and contaminated nearby buildings, roads, farms, and fields. Traffic on the Milan-Turin highway was halted, and 30 persons were evacuated in the rural Po Valley area. Plans were up to evacuate the nearby towns of Trecate and Rumantino before the well died.
There remained at presstime concerns about the environmental damage from the spilled crude. Italian environmentalists claimed the spill resulting from the blowout wiped out at least a year's rice production in the area. There also was speculation over possible contamination of the underground aquifer and the nearby Ticino River.
Agip commissioned Battelle Institute, Geneva, to assess the environmental damage and advise on cleanup measures.
The Trecate/Villa Fortuna field complex near the town of Novara about 40 km west of Milan, produces about 40,000 b/d of oil, or almost half of Italy's production.
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