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Apache Canada Belloy Field incident progress update

CALGARY, Jan. 29, 2014 -- Apache Canada announced on Jan. 27, 2014 that it has transitioned into a recovery and remediation phase in relation to the produced water release from a water injection pipeline in its Belloy Field operating area in north-central Alberta.

Apache immediately shut in and isolated the water injection pipeline upon discovery of the release on Jan. 21, 2014. Apache then notified the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), Alberta Environment and initiated its emergency response plan. The containment of the spill site has been maintained and Apache continues to make progress with recovery and remediation efforts.

The estimated release volume has been recorded as just under 1,980 metres cubed with 7.4 hectares of affected area.

A team of environmental specialists and a fleet of specialized equipment remain on site and will continue water sampling and recovery and remediation efforts.

Ongoing air-monitoring has detected no levels of hydrogen sulphide at the spill site, or near cleanup operations. A trace amount of hydrocarbons was present in the produced water. Extensive water and soil sampling is ongoing and collected samples are being analyzed at this time. The release involved produced water that had already been treated to remove hydrocarbons. Produced water comes from formation fluids which are extracted during oil and gas operations that contain naturally occurring oil, gas, non-potable water, salt and other minerals. As a part of the production process, formation fluids are brought to the surface and treated to remove recoverable oil and gas.

The remaining produced water will be re-injected back into the producing formation to maximize the reservoir recovery and conservation of resources. There is no danger to the public and no known impacts to wildlife or to fish-bearing waterways. Wildlife deterrents have been deployed.

The cause of the release is under investigation.

For more information, please contact Paul Wyke at (403) 303-5925 or paul.wyke@apachecorp.com.

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