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Natural gas well capped following blowout near Fox Creek

The Encana site near Fox Creek, Sept. 22, 2015.
The Encana site near Fox Creek, Sept. 22, 2015. Cam Cook, Global News

EDMONTON — Nearly one week after a natural gas well blew near Fox Creek, the damaged wellhead has been brought under control.

Encana said crews were able to cap the well and stop the flow of natural gas at around 1:50 p.m. Sunday.

The well had been spewing natural gas and small amounts of chemical since it blew last Monday, about 18 kilometres west of Fox Creek.

On Friday, a spokesperson for Encana said monitoring data showed low levels of poisonous hydrogen sulphide had been released since the well blew, but they are well beneath those that would pose a health risk.

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READ MORE: Alberta gas well blowout still not capped

“We are fully committed to ensuring any related environmental impacts are effectively remediated. There is an environmental team on the ground assessing the area and developing a remediation plan. In addition, we are working to determine the cause of the incident in order to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future,” Encana said in a statement Sunday afternoon.

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Fox Creek is located about 260 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

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