Berry Petroleum says it's being investigated for 2,500-barrel spill

Berry Petroleum said on Thursday that it is one of two companies being investigated by the state for sizable recent spills from oil and gas operations into a gulch feeding into Parachute Creek.

Berry joins Marathon Oil Co. in stepping forward to say they experienced spills from reserve pits in the Garden Gulch area near Parachute. However, like Marathon, Berry says its spill involved only water.

Berry said the spill totaled 2,500 barrels and that a nearby spring contributed to it. But the company said trace amounts of drilling additives were found below the pit.

Last week, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission announced it was investigating what it called four major spills by two companies in the Garden Gulch area from November through February. It has refused to identify the companies because the investigation is ongoing.

Marathon later announced it learned Jan. 31 that 30,000 barrels, or 1.2 million gallons, of water had leaked from one of its reserve pits.

The commission’s statement last week said one of the spills consisted of 30,000 barrels of drilling mud.

Deb Frazier, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, has said drilling mud can contain a variety of things, and the state is still working to determine the contents of the four spills it announced. She would not confirm that the Marathon spill was the same 30,000-barrel spill referred to in the oil and gas commission statement.

Last week’s statement indicated that the company responsible for the 30,000-barrel spill was not involved in the others. Marathon has said it was responsible for only one of the Garden Gulch spills.

The state has said a second company didn’t report two of its three spills immediately, in violation of commission requirements.

Berry’s statement Thursday referred to only one spill, consisting of 2,500 barrels. It said that during drilling, it saw fluid flowing away from a well pad, and an investigation showed two possible sources — a spring or the reserve pit. The reserve pit ultimately was determined to be contributing to the flow.

“While no drilling muds were placed into the pit or released into the environment, trace amounts of other drilling additives were identified downgradient from the pit. These concentrations were below drinking water standards,” Berry said in its statement.

Berry spokesman Todd Crabtree said Berry has met with oil and gas commissioners and will fully cooperate in the matter.

“We recognize the need to promptly report all releases from well sites,” he added.

He said he didn’t know what the commission is referring to in its mention of releases that weren’t reported immediately, and Berry isn’t acknowledging any failure to make immediate reports.

He said he didn’t know the timing of the report for its spill, but that there’s no indication it wasn’t immediate. Crabtree also said he didn’t know whether the company was involved in multiple spills in the area.