It may take weeks for crews to cap a natural gas well burning out of control in northeast B.C.
The incident happened near Chetwynd, about 100 kilometres from where natural gas firm EnCana has been targeted with three explosions on pipelines and a well head since October.
The well is owned by ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), and company spokesman Patrick DeFoe said Wednesday there is no cause to believe this fire was deliberate.
"These incidents are completely unrelated. This was strictly an operational incident," he said from his Calgary office.
DeFoe said an equipment failure in a control mechanism in the well is believed to have caused the breach on Monday and the leaking gas is fuelling the fire.
"We've mobilized people and equipment to begin to take control of the well, but it could take us several weeks to actually bring this well under control."
No one was hurt, the crew was evacuated and the site has been closed.
Because the area is remote it's expected there will be no danger to the public.
"We have air monitors circling the area, moving throughout the area, checking air quality," said DeFoe. "At this point we've had no adverse readings of any kind that would indicate there's a health issue to the public."
The company says they are looking into all options as to how to fix the breach, including drilling a relief well that would intersect to the damaged line to stop the leak.
This is the second such fire in under a year for ConocoPhillips.
There was a fire in a gas rig about 60 kilometres from the community of Tumbler Ridge last December.
DeFoe said there is no connection between the two fires.
The company temporarily shut down all its Canadian operations after the Tumbler Ridge fire while it reviewed its procedures, equipment and drilling plans.
