UPDATED: 8:30 p.m.
KILLDEER, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota officials are working to plug a leaking well that began oozing hundreds of barrels of oil today when its steel and concrete linings failed, officials said.
Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources, said it appears that workers have been able to recover all of the oil that bubbled out of the well since the linings inside it failed. But he said the well will continue leaking about 100 barrels of oil an hour until it can be capped with concrete sometime Thursday.
Helms estimated that more than 1,000 barrels of oil had spilled by Wednesday evening, but the mess was confined to the immediate area around the well. No injuries were reported.
"As it's coming up around the well, we're able to collect it all," Helms said.
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The spill happened about 2½ miles southwest of Killdeer, but remained more than a mile away from the city's drinking water wells.
The leaking well is close to a creek, but Helms said a protective dike kept the oil from reaching the creek. Monitoring wells will be dug and tests will be done in the weeks ahead to make sure the oil doesn't affect groundwater in the area.
The leaking well is operated by Denbury Onshore, which will pay for the cleanup effort. Denbury Onshore is a subsidiary of Plano, Texas,-based Denbury Resources.
A Denbury spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a message left Wednesday evening.
Officials estimate that North Dakota's oil patch is producing about 300,000 barrels of crude per day, and 128 rigs are actively drilling for oil or natural gas in the state.
