Johnston Farm OPA Site
Bradford, Pennsylvania


Client
U.S. EPA Region III

Project Value
$4,344,000

Project Type
Oil Well Closure

Introduction


In and around the Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania, there are well in excess of 250,000 oil wells that have been drilled and produced for the primary and secondary recovery of Pennsylvania grade crude oil since its discovery. 

Over the years, as production declined, environmental regulations became more stringent and operating costs increased, many of the wells in northwestern Pennsylvania were simply abandoned.  In some cases, entire oil production facilities were abandoned.  In the process of abandonment, some of the wells were plugged, but many were not. 

As much of the infrastructure of the oil production industry had not been maintained, discharges of oil had become commonplace by the mid 1970's. From then until the present, the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) emergency response program has had a significant presence in northwestern Pennsylvania.


WRScompass worked as a contractor under our Emergency and Rapid Response Services (ERRS) contract in EPA Region III.  WRScompass conducted oil well closures on the site known as Johnston Farms located in Bradford, Pennsylvania.  To date, WRScompass has performed over 300 successful well closures of both production wells and intake wells.  The wells range from 1,000 ft. to 1,500 ft. below service level.  


Project Activities


WRScompass assisted the U.S. EPA in their oil field program with general site reconnaissance in providing oil field expertise and logistical support for comprehensive evaluations of oil fields, and in particular, the Johnston Farm Oil Pollution Act (OPA) site. 

These evaluations include locating and then pinpointing the wells and infrastructure with GPS units.  The GPS units are utilized to pinpoint wells, tanks, separators, piping and other facilities on-site to better enable the EPA On-Scene Coordinator (OSC) to prioritize the long term removal action at each site.  

In addition to logistical support, WRScompass also provides equipment and labor for cleanout and plugging of oil wells.  To date, WRScompass has plugged approximately 300 wells on the Johnston Farm OPA site.  Tasks include well site specific access, segregate/isolate well site from associated equipment, recovery quantification and off site treatment and storage of crude oil, recovery quantification on-site staging of bio-degradable oil contaminated soil and debris for bio-ops or off-site disposal, well cleanout and plugging, well site specific restoration and well site specific egress.

WRScompass has dismantled mutable tank and pit installations on this site as well.  WRS has built and remediated 5 bio-pods on Johnston Farm including roto-tilling 3 days a week, TPH sampling biweekly, addition of fertilizer and moisture amendments.

Typical Closure/Abandonment


WRScompass understands that deeper wells require a large service rig or drill rig. The drill rig is typically used to pull the tubing that is gypped in the hole. The typical closure for production wells include; setting the rig, pulling the 2” tubing out of the well, placing a 1 ½” concrete pipe into the well and pumping the concrete down the cement pipe to fill the well. 

The depth of the well determines the amount of concrete needed.  Upon completion, the cement pipe is pulled and the well is top-holed with 8 ton of pea gravel into the well, 2 sacks cement, followed by a 2’’ marker pipe.

Intake well closures require a few steps unless anomalies are present.  The typical closure requires the 1” tubing to be pulled out of the 2” tubing.   1”cement pipe is placed in the 2” tubing and 2 bags of cement is run down the well hole.  Upon completion, the cement pipe is removed from the well, a licensed well shooter then rigs up a shot for that particular well.  The shot is then lowered into the 2” tubing at an attainable depth required by the state.  The well shooter then feels for the collar, and lets the shot off. 

After the collar is shot, the 2” pipe is then pulled, and the 1” cement pipe is ran back down the hole.  Depending on the depth of the well, bags of cement are then run down the cement pipe to plug the well.  After all the bags of cement are run down the whole,  the 1” pipe is then pulled out of the well and the well is top-holed with 8 ton of pea gravel.