I have a 725 foot drilled well (normal in my area) with a problem.
seal contaminates on the outside of the pipe from draining down into the water. Two weeks after completion, I started to get oil and natural gas in my water. Is it possible that this sealant has failed? Can it be repaired? Any other ideas.
Talk to the driller/well company -- this isn't a diy'er type of problem.
Sure, it can fail or there could be another path from one oil/gas stratum to your water. Or if this is an area of exploration there could be an undocumented abandoned or dry hole. A "veritable plethora" of possibilities...
snipped-for-privacy@realgasmileage.com wrote in news:1182876400.443729.230690 @m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com:
First question: What's the well's approximate location in the world?
Second question: How far away is the nearest oil or gas well?
Third question: Why haven't you called the local government oil & gas regulatory commission and the local government's environmental quality department?
So your water aquifer is below natural gas and oil pay zones? That's really odd. We spudded a bunch of shallow gas wells in central and northeast Ohio back in the early 70's to a depth of 600 feet.
Call your driller immediately, don't turn on any faucets, natural gas is oderless. shut your pump off etc....
One can encounter oil (petroleum) in many places where there are no commercial oil wells (presumably not economical). The petroleum may be below the level of the seal. The seal is usually only for (near) surface contaminants. In my area (wells typically 200-300 feet), the seal is only for the top 50 feet and pea gravel below that. If the driller knew that he was drilling through oil bearing rock, he could have put less pea gravel in and had the concrete seal go through the oil bearing layer.
Are you sure that this is natural petroleum and not some man made water contamination? How do you know that it is natural gas (methane), and not something else (carbon dioxide? H2S?)? How much is there?
Talk to the driller, you local regulators who worry about wells & water quality, and maybe a geologist.
I don't know if it is possible to fix the well, but it may be possible to treat the water.
M Q wrote in news:mYfgi.999$w2.339@trnddc01:
If there really is oil or natural gas in the water well then the presence of benzene is a major concern. Generally, if there is benzene in the water then it is considered non-potable and there is no accepted method of making it potable that is economically viable (AIUI).
You planning on droppin' by to fix it? :)
As someone else noted, doesn't have to be a nearby well although not a bad hypothesis could also be dry holes or areas that aren't commercially viable (or haven't been to date, anyway).
I'm assuming the time span since the original two weeks hasn't been very long so I'd think the driller would be first on my list although the State should have a registry of _known_ abandoned holes which could be useful (here it's the State Geological Service). Of course, it's the existing but unknown that are often the cause of the problem. :(
dpb wrote in news:f5sav4$tbe$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org:
Nope. But knowledge of the area is useful. There are regions where natural gas in water wells is fairly common. Some of those areas are the result of hydrocarbon exploitation activities. Some of those areas seem to have "natural" occurances of natural gas in the aquifer.
I never suggested that a nearby well was a problem. If the nearest well is five hundred miles away then that is a different situation than if the nearest well is within a mile or two. Got it?
Call the driller, fine. Don't skip the other calls. Hydrocarbons in a fresh water supply is a serious matter for the individual *and* the public. Even if the driller sez something like "that happens and here's what we're gonna do 'bout it" the OP needs to check the driller's story and the water quality. Things like benzene are not your friend.
Sorry, I don't see seal failure causing natural gas contamination. You may want to check this with an expert. You have a deep, expensive, and non-potable source of water. You'll need to drill another well if you want a source of drinking water. I don't think you can blame anyone, this sounds like bad luck.
Dave M.
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