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The article informs that U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has released a factual update into its ongoing investigation of the blowout and fire at the Pryor Trust Gas Well on January 22, 2018, in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, that killed five workers. It reports that CSB determined the incident occurred shortly after drilling crew members removed the drill pipe from the well in a process known as tripping.

The article discusses risks related to drilling superdeep gas wells. Lone Star Producing Co. failed in its attempts to drill into Oklahoma's Anadarko Basin to look for gas after the bit tapped into liquid sulfur under tremendous pressure, causing hydrogen sulfide to eat away at the high-tensile steel drill string. The number of completed wells below 20,000 feet or more in the U.S. has increased to 74 in 1974 from 49 in 1972 and 57 in 1971.