Bellevue Blowout
In 1998, the Lost Hills Field was the site of one of the largest and most spectacular well blowouts in modern U.S. history. The Bellevue blowout – also called the "Bellevue gusher" – involved six months of uncontrolled natural gas expulsion, and a gigantic gas fire that lasted two weeks.
On the evening of November 23, a wildcat well being drilled into a promising anticlinal fold underneath the Monterey Formation, northeast of the main Lost Hills field, reached the depth of 17,000 feet (5,200 m) and hit a previously untapped reservoir of gas under intense pressure. Natural gas and petroleum condensate burst from the well, immediately exploding into flame, knocking over the massive drilling rig, destroying the trailer, and melting the nearby drilling equipment. This enormous pillar of fire, which rose more than 300 feet (91 m) into the sky, could be seen more than 40 miles (64 km) away, and the quantity of gas bursting from the well has been estimated at between 40 to 100 million cubic feet (2,800,000 m3) per day. It burned for fourteen days, and continued spewing even after the fire was out; only a secondary well bore, drilled at a slant to intercept the main well, was able to plug the opening and snuff the blowout at last.
Read more about this topic: Lost Hills Oil Field, History and Operations