BRILLIANT, Ohio — A mechanical malfunction may be to blame for a well blow out in a Utica shale well in Jefferson County Tuesday evening.

The well was believed to be releasing natural gas and methane from the well head.

As a precaution, an evacuation of a two mile radius was ordered immediately. But before the end of the evening, the evacuation was lowered to a one mile radius and now everyone has been allowed back in their homes.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources was notified Tuesday evening of the blow out from the company drilling the wells, American Energy Partners.

The well is a dry gas well and there was no oil or condensate on the pad so there were no leaks.

In addition, the ODNR reported that the blow out did not result in a fire at the well.

According to the ODNR, as soon as the crews working on the well pad realized there was problem, they called the First Responders in Jefferson County and stopped everything.

Calls were also made to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the ODNR about the incident.

The agencies remained on site all night.

AEP immediately called the well control company, Boots and Coots out of Texas.

Boots and Coots arrived this morning and repaired the malfunction.

The well is not operating as of now.

According to ODNR, the company AEP will need to perform testing on the well in the hole  to figure out what happened and then put a plan together of how to fix the problem.
Before the operations can begin, ODNR said AEP will have to get the green light.

ODNR spokeswoman Stephanie Leis said that the well in question has very good results so far. She also commented that AEP has an excellent safety record and they followed the protocol exactly.

She added that some of AEP’s best management practices are being used by the ODNR to create rules for well drilling.