The explosion and fire occurred in the Weld County town of Firestone, on April 17. Mark Martinez and his brother-in-law Joseph William Irwin III, both 42 years of age, were killed in the incident and Mark’s wife, Erin Martinez and her 11-year-old son were injured.
In a statement released on April 26, Anadarko acknowledged the blast had occurred approximately 200 feet from the family’s recently built two-storey home on Twilight Avenue. The well involved in the explosion was one of the company’s older vertical wells, drilled by a previous operator in 1993.
Activists and anti-fracking groups all across Colorado are calling for a statewide emergency moratorium as company and state officials and regulators investigate the cause of the explosion. Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the state agency that oversees oil and gas industry operations, says the well was within 170 feet of the home.
“While the well in the vicinity is one aspect of the investigation, this is a complex investigation and the origin and cause of the fire have not been determined,” Frederick-Firestone Fire Protection District Chief Theodore Poszywak said, according to EcoWatch.
Of particular interest is a story published in the Colorado Independent that possibly sheds some light on the connection between Anadarko and the explosion. According to the story, an unnamed source said that Anadarko trucks and personnel showed up immediately to the scene of the explosion right after it occurred. They were in company vehicles and wore uniforms.
However, over the next several days, company personnel showed up at the scene again, but in unmarked vehicles and wearing civilian clothing. They seemed to be paying particular attention to a feeder line that may have been severed near the home. Anadarko spokesman John Christiansen would not respond to the report, saying only, “There’s a lot that we don’t know and I’m not going to comment other than what’s in the press release.”
Denver’s Business Journal reports that Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is one of the state’s biggest oil and gas producers, while the state is the seventh-largest oil and gas producing state in the country.
According to The Street, Anadarko Petroleum saw it’s stock beaten down nearly 6 percent on Thursday. Capital One Securities analysts wrote in a Thursday, April 27, research note that “the firm would maintain its current estimates for the company until it receives more color when APC reports earnings next Wednesday, May 3.” As of 3:20 p.m., APC stock was at $56.40 a share, a price decrease of %3.56 (5.94 percent).
As it stands now, “the wells will remain shut down in until the company’s field personnel can conduct additional inspections and testing of the associated equipment, such as facilities and underground lines associated with each wellhead,” according to the press release. Anadarko says the inspections should take from two to four weeks.