Ten days after the blowout of a Utica well, Mangum Hunter Resources Corp. (NYSE: MHR) said Dec. 23 it temporarily capped the well in Monroe County, Ohio.

Wild Well Control, a Houston company that responds to about 85% of domestic blowouts, successfully replaced the Stalder 3UH's wellhead assembly, Magnum Hunter said.

The well’s content is about 97% methane and MHR said it has no evidence of environmental damage to the immediate area as a result of the blowout. No personnel were injured in connection with the well control operations on the Stalder pad.

Some analysts speculated that the blowout could have repurcussions for the company's 2014 exit.

“Without the first well under control and online, the three remaining Utica wells and one Marcellus well cannot be produced, which makes MHR’s 32.5 Mboe/d 2014 exit rate guidance much less likely at this point,” according to a separate Dec. 15 report from SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.


Houston-based MHR’s wholly owned subsidiary, Triad Hunter LLC, lost control of the well at about 2 p.m. EST on Dec. 13. Initial well control operations involved excavation around the wellhead to properly evaluate the condition of the wellhead flange and night cap. Fresh water was continually sprayed on the wellhead to reduce the chance of ignition of the natural gas.

Initially, attempts to push the night cap back over the flange with a track hoe and a crane were unsuccessful. Wild Well Control then began the process of replacing the wellhead assembly. As part of this process, the individual casing strings were cut in a number of different places. The new wellhead was then installed and the well was shut in.

The pad site will now be brought back to its original condition, and MHR anticipates that all wells on the Stalder Pad will be placed on production sometime in January 2015.

Magnum Hunter continues to believe that there has been no damage to the overall structure or integrity of the Stalder 3UH well and that the loss of control has not affected Magnum Hunter's three other Utica Shale wells (the Stalder #6UH, #7UH and #8UH) and one Marcellus Shale well (the Stalder #2MH).

Magnum Hunter and its subsidiaries maintain customary control of well insurance coverage through multiple shared-risk co-insurance companies.

Magnum Hunter said it believes that its control of well insurance will be adequate to cover all losses incurred by it in connection with the blowout of the Stalder 3UH well.

MHR holds 118,500 net acres prospective for the Utica with an estimated 464 gross remaining Utica well locations. In Monroe County, the company has drilled five wells and shut-in two of those.