Equinor well leaks 500 barrels of oil in North Dakota

N.D. – About 500 barrels of oil leaked from Equinor Energy LP’s well in North Dakota due to a valve failure, The North Dakota Oil and Gas Division said on Wednesday.

The leak occurred about 2 miles east of Williston, North Dakota, the heart of the Bakken shale basin, and by Tuesday, about 490 barrels of crude had been recovered.

The spill was contained within a lined contained dyke and no water bodies or wildlife has been affected, Equinor spokesman Erik Haaland said in an email.

Clean-up efforts are in progress with oil being pumped back into storage tanks, and an investigation will be carried out to identify the root cause, Haaland said.

Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sonya Hepinstall