Oil Well Update - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Oil Well Update

Oil is no longer shooting from a well near Van Hook on Lake Sakakawea.

Crews working to shut off the leak succeeded about five-am today a few miles east of New Town.

Looking through a dense fog, clean up efforts are already underway in the field to the north of the well.

Oil, gas, and brine water began spewing from the well about 36 hours earlier when workers with Slawson Exploration lost control of the producing well.

No one was injured in the incident, but oil began flowing onto the ground, and shooting into the air as a yellow-tinged mist that settled on farmland in the area.

The southeast wind pushed the mist away from Lake Sakakawea.

Slawson Exploration spokesperson Kyle Waliezer says it is not yet known how much oil was lost.

The equipment malfunction that caused the leak also remains under investigation.

Slawson Exploration has been in the business of oil production in North Dakota for 37 years and Waliezer says this is the first major incident for the company.