After a Marcellus Shale natural gas well erupted in Clearfield County last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has suspended drilling operations until an investigation is complete.

Industry officials say that accidents like this one are very rare, but another Marcellus well exploded in West Virginia this week, a Texas natural gas pipeline exploded Monday, and then there’s that thing in the Gulf. Exactly how rare are they?

Here are some numbers that sound official:

· Deepwater well blowouts are becoming more common: five were reported in the last 18 months in the Gulf of Mexico alone. [Houston Chronicle]

· In their investigation of nearly 400 offshore incidents, Minerals Management Service officials collected only 16 fines. [Houston Chronicle]

· BP, the region’s leading offshore oil producer, has had the most accidents and blowouts of any oil company operating in the Gulf at 47 accidents since 2005, with Chevron coming in at a close second with 46, and Shell lagging behind at 22. [Houston Chronicle]

· In all 34 states where onshore hydrofracking occurs, residents have reported water and air contamination from chemicals used during drilling and fires, and spoiled wells from methane migration. [AlterNet]

· And yet, the stock market shows that drilling’s future lies onshore, rather than offshore. [Street Insider]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 12:56 pm.