Geysers Near Kingfisher Spew Gas, Spur Confusion

December 13, 2005
By Tony Thornton
The Oklahoman

KINGFISHER - As gas-spewing geysers shot up to 9 feet high along a winding creek, two dozen state and local officials scratched their collective head in Kingfisher County’s courthouse annex Monday.

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What's happening in Kingfisher? Nobody is sure why geysers have sprung up in the area, but experts offered some explanations. Blaming Mother Nature Jim Puckette, a professor of geology at Oklahoma State University, said such natural fractures within rock are not unheard of in western Oklahoma. He said he has not seen the geysers or talked to anyone about them. "You get a gas bubble liberated from a deeper oil and gas reservoir, and the gas expands as it rises." The gas typically dissipates pretty quickly in open areas with some wind. But there's not much that can be done to control them, he said. They have to run their course. He said the pressure can lift large rocks into the air, and the main danger is the natural gas getting into water sources. Bruce Bell, chairman of the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association of Oklahoma, agreed the leak could be caused by natural events such as an earthquake. If, however, it is natural seepage, Bell said the incident could lead to even more production. "When the oil business started, one way to find drilling sites was to look for oil seeps," he said. "The seal over a reservoir often is not perfect." Some eye drilling The geology in the area makes natural gas seepage unlikely, said Galen Miller, geologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey, and there has been no seismic activity in the area for at least two weeks. Miller said the most likely cause is equipment failure in a natural gas well. "It could be an old abandoned well that somebody didn't cap properly," he said. "The most logical explanation to us is that the casing of somebody's well is leaking." Oil and natural gas wells are encased in pipe and, in some cases, concrete. But if a section of the pipe failed, Miller said, pressure could build up until the gas could surface. Charles Mankin, director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey at the University of Oklahoma, said: "It's happened before and it'll happen again." He said the most likely cause is a drill that let natural gas to escape into permeable underground layers. "It's man-induced," he said. "There is no geologic activity out there that would cause that."

Their quandary: Why did miniature geysers suddenly emerge along a 10-mile stretch of Winter Camp Creek?

Their mission: To make them subside, or at least to control them before they become a health hazard.

Three days after a hunter first spotted water and mud bursting up southwest of Kingfisher, the mystery remained.

“We’re stumped,” said Steve Loftis, emergency management director for Kingfisher and the county. “This is one for the ages.”

Tony Cupp, district manager for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s oil and gas division, said: “It’s weird. It’s really weird.”

Cupp answered questions during a briefing with the county’s elected officials, along with representatives of the city of Kingfisher, the state Department of Environmental Quality and a National Guard unit that has been monitoring the geysers’ potential explosiveness.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Court Clerk Vonnie Dow asked.

“Not like this,” Cupp answered.

One theory, he said, is that the vent holes are somehow connected to oil and gas exploration.

Some sort of gas is involved, Cupp is certain. The faint odor was similar to that of model glue. Testing was ongoing Monday afternoon to determine the type of gas.

National Guard Lt. Col. Kevin Staring said the water could be harmful. He urged farmers living along the creek not to let livestock drink from it until the source is determined.

However, no dead animals have been found. In fact, at one location, wildlife was plentiful next to the creek, one National Guardsman said.

The situation caused considerable angst Sunday, when an aerial inspection found several more locations, with the phenomenon moving northeast toward Kingfisher.

That prompted the city to issue a voluntary evacuation to people living along the creek, and the American Red Cross to set up a “comfort station,” which found no takers.

It also caused what Staring called “crisis mode.”

But by Monday morning, no new geysers were forming, and bubbling was diminishing on the existing ones.

“I’m not sure that Kingfisher is at risk. There doesn’t appear to be vapor heading toward the community at all,” Staring said.

Although Staring said it would be risky to strike a match at ground level of a vent hole, the gas dissipates quickly in the air.

Evacuations won’t become mandatory unless gas levels become “really high,” Staring said.

Creek “like a Jacuzzi”

Winter Camp Creek is the only common denominator among six general locations where geysers are bubbling.

The second location is six or seven miles northeast of the first, and four more have been identified as the creek curves and bends toward town. Most locations have several vent holes, Kingfisher Fire Chief John Crawford said.

Crawford said that one most closely resembled a geyser, with water and mud spewing 12 to 15 feet in the area over the weekend.

Muddy water spewed two to three feet high Monday. Loftis, the emergency management director, said its strength had dwindled considerably in just a few hours.

“It’s like something out of ‘Jurassic Park,’” Corporation Commission spokesman Matt Skinner said.

He wants soil studies conducted, reasoning that some “serious cavities” caused by the gas pressure may be below the earth’s surface.

While the size differs from hole to hole, “that creek looks like a Jacuzzi,” Crawford said.

Contributing: Business Writer Adam Wilmoth and Staff Writer Susan Simpson

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