North Dakota health officials said a 2015 spill of natural gas liquids at a gas processing plant, which Oneok Inc. subsidiary ONEOK Partners LP initially reported as only 10 gallons, was actually much larger, and the ongoing cleanup could last up to 10 more years, the Associated Press reported Aug. 20.
North Dakota Department of Health officials found "at least hundreds of thousands of gallons" of natural gas condensate saturating the ground around a pipeline at the midstream services provider's Garden Creek gas processing plant near Watford City, N.D., according to the news article. Oneok Partners reportedly told the state in October 2018 that at the time it had retrieved 240,000 gallons of liquids, but the state agency never updated a report with the new information about the spill.
According to the Associated Press, Oneok Partners said "hairline cracks" in the underground pipeline were the source of the release. The contaminated area covers 240,000 square feet, and the groundwater has been affected, a state environmental scientist said in the article.
In August 2014, Oneok Partners began operating its 100-MMcf/d Garden Creek II facility, part of the company's gas processing facilities in the Williston Basin in North Dakota.
