RCMP investigate stolen oilfield piping

By Rob Vogt, Local Press Writer
The Claresholm RCMP are seeking the public’s assistance in finding those responsible for the theft of oilfield piping north and west of Claresholm.
On Sept. 23, the Claresholm RCMP received a complaint of a theft of production tubing, or oilfield pipe.
The Orphan Well Association had production tubing stolen from two abandonment well sites west of Claresholm near Township 130. The thefts were not reported immediately as they initially thought another division of the abandonment team had hauled away the tubing.
At 4-35-12-28-4, a total of 261 joints of J-55 tubing were taken. Each joint is approximately 9.67 metres in length for a total length of 2,526 metres.
The pipe is valued at $15,660
At 5-4-13-28-4, a total of 201 joints of J-55 tubing were taken. Each joint is approximately 9.67 metres in length for a total length of 1,944 metres.
A total of 46 joints of L-80 tubing was also taken. Each joint is approximately 9.67 metres in length for a total lenth of 445 metres.
The value of these two batches of pipe is $14,820.
The tubing was last seen on location on Thursday, Sept. 17, at noon and was discovered missing on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 7 a.m.
Each joint of pipe weighs 68 kilograms or about 150 pounds. With the amount of tubing taken in a short period of time, along with the weight, police suspect a picker truck and trailer was used to take this pipe. This amount of pipe would have taken hours to load by hand and multiple loads would have been needed with a small trailer.
The complainant advised that tubing going missing from the wellsites has been a regular occurrence over the last year while doing the orphan well abandonments.
The police are requesting that if anyone noticed anyone in the area around the dates of the thefts to please contact Claresholm RCMP at 403-625-4445.