Oil Release near Lake Sakakawea | Video

Rene Thibault | 12/13/2012

Crews are working to stop an oil leak at a rig site near Lake Sakakawea. The president of Slawson Exploration says a mechanical failure on the oil well yesterday caused the leak near Lake Sakakawea.

The incident happened around 6:00 last night, near the Van Hook Arm of the lake and a team from Houston, Texas was on scene by Midnight to help with the spill. Oil is still puddling at the rig and the crews are in the process of hauling the oil away from the site.

This was the first release of oil from the Slawson Exploration company.

"We have really good containment around the wells, so the well sites will hold a lot of fluids, so there`s no endangerment of the lake at all. We did get a light mist around in the fields, but the lake is not endangered at all. Our team has done a great job at taking care of this whole ordeal," said production foreman Kyle Waliezer.

No injuries were reported, and the oil has been contained on location. Slawson Exploration is investigating and says it doesn`t know how long clean up will take.

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