3rd man dies after gas blast at Chesapeake Energy oil well near Bryan by Sergio Chapa, , February 1, 2020
A third man has died after a gas explosion Wednesday at a Chesapeake Energy oil well in Burleson County, according to media reports.
Oil field worker Brian Maldonado, 25, of San Diego, Texas, died on Saturday, the Alice Echo News-Journal reported.
Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but Maldonado was part of a crew working at a Chesapeake Energy oil well west of Bryan, Texas, when natural gas in the well ignited at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The blast killed 38-year-old Windell Beddingfield of Tyler at the scene; Maldonado and two other men were taken by helicopters to hospitals in Houston and Austin.
Fatal Accident: Ignition of natural gas blamed in fatal oil well accident
A second worker, who has yet to be identified by authorities or company officials, died Thursday.
Maldonado was flown to the Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas in Austin, where he underwent surgery Thursday afternoon, the Alice Echo-News Journal reported.
Eleven people from Chesapeake, Fort Worth oil field service company Eagle Pressure Control and Alice oil field service company C.C. Forbes were working at the well at the time of the incident, a report from the Railroad Commission of Texas shows.
Investigators believe that an unexpected amount of natural gas entered the well and ignited. What caused the ignition remains under investigation.
Officials from Chesapeake and C.C. Forbes could not immediately be reached for comment but said in previous statements that they are cooperating with regulators and investigators.
Ignition of natural gas blamed in fatal oil well accident by Sergio Chapa,Jan. 31, 2020, Houston Chronicle
Family members identified 38-year-old Windell Beddingfield of Tyler as one of the victims in a fatal Wednesdsay, January 29, 2020 accident at a Chesapeake Energy oil well in Burleson County.
A second worker has died from injuries suffered in a Burleson County oil well fire, which authorities suspect was caused by the ignition of natural gas rising to the surface. [Yet authorities in Alberta tell families living with industry’s leaking natural gas venting from water taps into their homes and pump houses, that it’s perfectly safe.]
The worker, who was not identified, died two days after the fire broke out at the well operated by Chesapeake Energy of Oklahoma City, according to the company. The other worker killed in the explosion was identified in a court filing as Windell Beddingfield, 38, of Tyler.
Beddingfield, an employee of Eagle Pressure Control, a Fort Worth oil field services company, died at the scene Wednesday. His mother, Linda Milanovich, filed a request for an injunction before a state District Court in Caldwell on Friday afternoon to preserve evidence in advance of a potential lawsuit.
Officials from Eagle Pressure Control could not immediately be reached for comment. Milanovich is seeking a hearing as soon as Monday or Tuesday, said her lawyer, Eric Allen with the Houston office of the law firm Zehl & Associates.
“Distraught is the best way to explain what the family is going through right now,” Allen said.
Crews were working on upgrading a wellhead at the surface when an unexpected amount of natural gas entered the 8,500-foot-deep well and ignited around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, a preliminary inspection report from the Railroad Commission of Texas shows. The cause of the ignition is not clear and remains under investigation by state and local authorities.
… Beddingfield died at the scene, and three other men were transported by helicopter to hospitals in Houston and Austin.
Beddingfield, nicknamed “Bubba” by family members, is survived by a wife and a 16-year-old daughter.
Chesapeake officials said the crews were performing workover operations at the time of the accident. In the oil and natural gas industry, workover crews are typically called to perform maintenance or other types of work to improve a well’s sagging productivity. Chesapeake said none of its employees were injured.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted,” Chesapeake spokesman Gordon Pennoyer said in a statement.
Forbes Energy Services, the parent company of C.C. Forbes, said in a statement that one of the victims was its employee. The company declined to disclose the name of the worker or the extent of his injures.
Forbes said it is cooperating with authorities and Chesapeake in the investigation.
Family members identified Brian Maldonado, a resident of San Diego in South Texas, as one of the men injured in the accident, the Alice Echo News-Journal reported.
Maldonado’s aunt Jessica Gonzalez Quintana told the newspaper that he suffered third-degree burns to more than 90 percent of his body.
The 25-year-old oil field worker underwent surgery at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas in Austin on Thursday afternoon, family members told the News-Journal.
Located off County Road 127 and FM 60 near Deanville in Burleson County, a pair of oil wells were drilled by Columbia Gas Development in 1980 and 1993, Railroad Commission records show. Ownership of the oil lease has changed hands at least five times over the past two and half decades.
Chesapeake assumed ownership of the lease after closing a $4 billion deal to buy Houston oil company Wildhorse Resources last February.
Targeting the Giddings field of the Austin Chalk geological formation, the well was last reported in November to be producing 220 barrels of crude oil and nearly 1.9 million cubic feet of natural gas per month.
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