Colorado Fines Petroleum Corp. $18.25 Million for Weld County Explosion
Regulators in Colorado announced an $18.25 million penalty this week for a 2017 natural gas explosion in a Firestone neighborhood that killed two men.
This is the largest fine... ever.
Kerr McGee, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy), was fined by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) for the deadly April 2017 tragedy in a recently-built home in Weld County that was about 170 feet from a well, according to NGI.
The National Transportation Safety Board also last year determined that the Firestone incident occurred because there was incomplete documentation and unsafe abandonment of the flow line, and it noted that local rules had allowed homes to be built on/or adjacent to the abandoned field, according to NGI.
Source: NGI