Officials say worker died after 76-foot fall
Heather Richards 307-266-0592, Heather.Richards@trib.com
Updated 6 hrs ago
JULY 16, 2016
Natrona County, WY
Authorities continued their investigation Friday into the death of a 28-year-old oil worker who fell to his death while working on a rig near Midwest.
The Natrona County Coroner’s Office identified the worker as Dennis McCulloch of Casper. He fell 76 feet Thursday and died instantly, officials said.
Safety equipment was in place at the time of the incident, according to the coroner’s office. An autopsy will be scheduled next week.
McCulloch was a contractor with Rawlins-based C L Well Service Inc. The company was working with FDL Energy, which operates the oil field outside of Midwest.
An early report that the man was crushed by equipment was false, according to the Natrona County sheriff’s office, which is investigating the incident.
FDL Energy and the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration are also investigating the man’s death.
Officials for the regulatory agency were on site Friday morning, interviewing employees. No one saw what took place before McCulloch fell, said John Ysebaert, DWS standards and compliance administrator.
The agency has 180 days to issue citations if any violations of safety protocol are discovered during the investigation.
“The biggest thing they are trying to do is find what caused the accident,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this point.”
A workover rig was used recently to investigate a gas leak near Midwest Schools. Thursday’s death was unrelated to that investigation and well closure, authorities said.
KKR and Fleur de Lis Energy to Acquire Wyoming EOR Assets
KKR Builds on Producing Oil and Gas Strategy with Wyoming Acquisition
April 01, 2015 04:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK & DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KKR and Fleur de Lis Energy (“FDL”) today announced the closing of an acquisition of certain CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) properties (the “Assets”) from Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. The Assets are located in the Powder River and Green River Basins of Wyoming.
Commenting on the acquisition, FDL CEO Porter Trimble stated: “The FDL team has a deep history and significant experience acquiring and operating similar, high quality oil fields under tertiary recovery. These fields have over 2 billion barrels of original oil in place, with only a portion of that recovered to-date. These are exactly the type of long-lived oil assets we look to own and operate”
The Assets include the Salt Creek Field, Monell Field, Linch Field and Howell Pipeline with approximately 14,000 boe/d of net production and CO2 pipeline capacity of 270 mmcf/d. The Assets also include an attractive inventory of near-term development opportunities.
“This is a very interesting time in the cycle to be acquiring long-lived, producing oil assets, and we are pleased to be able to do so in partnership with the Fleur de Lis team. Porter and his team have a strong track record of creating value with mature tertiary recover projects by finding opportunities to enhance performance.” said Jonathan Smidt, a Member of KKR.
Founded by former Merit Energy Company Vice Chairman, Porter Trimble, FDL currently manages 7,400 BOE/day of natural gas assets in Southern Mississippi and oil assets in the Permian Basin of West Texas. KKR and FDL entered into a partnership in 2014 to pursue investments in producing oil and gas properties in North America. This is the third acquisition acquired as part of that partnership, following the July 2014 acquisition of Selma Chalk properties from Penn Virginia Corporation and the November 2014 acquisition of Wolfberry assets from Linn Energy, LLC.
KKR’s Global Energy & Infrastructure business invests across the entire energy supply chain and the firm manages approximately $10 billion in energy and infrastructure related assets. KKR's energy and infrastructure team is composed of approximately 40 investment professionals globally, 25 of whom are based in North America.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages investments across multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit and hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world‐class people, and driving growth and value creation at the asset level. KKR invests its own capital alongside its partners' capital and brings opportunities to others through its capital markets business. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com.
About Fleur de Lis Energy
Fleur de Lis Energy, L.L.C., (“FDL”) is a private energy firm with over $1 Billion of available capital to acquire, operate and exploit oil and gas assets in North America. Headquartered in Dallas, TX, FDL’s goal is to generate attractive risk adjusted returns and stable cash distributions to its investors through the acquisition, exploitation and operation of a diverse portfolio of oil and gas properties in North America. The FDL management team has successfully executed this strategy through all of the varying market cycles in the past 25 years.