Officials from Houston-based Kinder Morgan said its crews stopped an orphaned well that ruptured Oct. 2 in Reeves County five miles west of Toyah. Kinder Morgan told Houston Chronicle the geyser was stopped Oct. 14 and sealed Oct. 21; workers no longer are detecting emissions of the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide. The company plans to “permanently plug” the well, begin remedial work and investigate the cause of the rupture of the well that was drilled in 1961 by El Paso Natural Gas Co. The Chronicle said Kinder Morgan did not previously own the well.
Railroad Commission of Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and Reeves County Emergency Management also are involved in the ongoing cleanup and investigation.