News Release March 15, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ENCHANT AIR QUALITY AND WELL CONTROL OPTIONS UPDATE

Calgary, Alberta (March 15, 2000) Following ignition of the Crestar Little Bow 2-27-14-18W4 sour gas blowout near Enchant at approximately 9 p.m. on Monday, March 13, 2000, ambient air quality monitors now show no measurable amounts of either hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) or sulphur dioxide (SO₂). The Chinook Health Region has approved the return of all evacuated residents to their homes, should they wish to do so. Should residents decide to not return because of noise from the blowout or other issues, Crestar Energy continues to support that decision.

Sour natural gas with a hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) content of 0.4% began flowing to atmosphere on Sunday morning, March 12, 2000 after a Crestar Energy drilling operation began experiencing well control problems at a new oil well location in the Little Bow oil field approximately 3 kilometres east and 4 kilometres north of Enchant, Alberta. There were no injuries.

Work on three well control actions is now underway. The first two involve drilling operations that can inject kill fluids into the gas cap formation involved in the blowout via:

• A service rig beginning to re-enter an adjacent existing oil well, and
• A drilling rig beginning to drill a new directional well.

The third action remains the responsibility of well control specialists, who are continuing to remove the burnt drilling rig from the blowout site before re-entering the original well bore.

The EUB remains on site at a local "emergency operations centre" (EOC) at the Community Centre in Enchant. Telephone numbers for the EOC are (403) 739-3936 and 739-2415. EUB staff will remain involved until well control is regained. Daily updates will be made available to media and area residents by both Crestar and the EUB.

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This news release is also available on the EUB Web site at http://www.ercb.ca

For further information please contact:

Greg Gilbertson, Senior Advisor
EUB Communications
Tel: (403) 297-3648
Fax: (403) 297-3757

NR 2000-14