Repairs to Newport Beach oil well may not be finished by Christmas, city staff says

The emergency repairs to cap an abandoned oil well in Newport Beach may miss its Christmas deadline, city staff said. 

Utilities director Mark Vukovich said crews need to install a much larger drill bit after the previous one failed to penetrate the cast-iron pipe.

"From where we stand today, if everything keeps going correctly, they can be done and out of here in the next five days, but everything has to go perfectly going forward, and it hasn't," Vukovich said. 

For the past few weeks, residents along Marcus Avenue on the Balboa Peninsula have been dealing with constant noise, bright lights, a partial road closure, and construction fencing from the operation. Many have moved out, while some residents have complained that they haven't been compensated for hotel stays. 

Crude oil was found in two homes, resulting in the properties being red-tagged. Crews have also detected methane gas from the well. State officials stepped in to help the city drill deep underground to stop the leaking oil. 

"For this to continue going on, I couldn't even imagine being in a house that's next to that," neighbor Daniel Moravec said. "If you have children, they'd go crazy."

Vukovich said the crews must work around the clock. They must continuously pump fluid into the hole they've created, or the hole could collapse. 

If the bigger drill can puncture the pipe, crews will use a special cement to stop the leak. If that doesn't work they may need to blow a hole into it.