Blast Backlash Hangs Over Drillers as ‘Fractivists’ Seek Limits
- Colorado explosions killed three, spurring state inspections
- Anadarko shares fall as investors weigh chance of higher costs
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Two months after a Colorado home exploded near an Anadarko Petroleum Corp. well, the reverberations are still rattling the oil industry, driving down driller shares and raising fears of a regulatory backlash.
The April 17 blast, which killed two people and injured a third, was followed a month later by a second deadly explosion at an Anadarko oil tank in the state. The incidents have revived calls to restrict drilling near populated areas within Colorado’s rich Niobrara shale formation, the fourth-most productive shale basin in the U.S. They’ve also spurred the state to order new inspections around thousands of oil and natural gas wells.