Companies developing oil wells around Lake Sakakawea will share costs of equipment and training to handle oil spills on the lake should more occur.

Six companies, including Whiting Oil and Gas, have said they’ll sign an agreement Friday to create Sakakawea Area Spill Response LLC.

The new company will spend an initial $300,000 on three boats, boom and two oil skimmers and store them near New Town, possibly as soon as October

Jack Braun, of Whiting, who’s heading the group, said 16 other companies have said they are interested in being part of the group, but want to see the formal contract first.

Braun said a second set of boats, boom and skimmers would then be purchased and stored on the east end of the lake’s north shore, possibly in the Parshall vicinity.

He said the lake is much longer east to west than it is wide across, so it makes sense to have equipment at each end.

Also, oil development is most intense on the north side of the lake.

He said the equipment could handle spills ranging from “small to medium,” in scale. In the event of a major spill, it would be enough to handle containment until large-scale containment crews could get on scene, he said.

The major oil companies have in excess of 100 oil wells near the lake and there also are  several oil pipelines near the lake, including one tied into the 4 Bears Bridge over Lake Sakakawea at New Town.

The issue came to a head this spring when oil and saltwater spilled into the lake for the first time.

A Petro-Hunt well north of Keene in McKenzie County spilled 5 barrels of oil and 100 barrels of saltwater April 2, when the lake was iced over so no clean up was conducted.

A second water spill occurred last month, when a storage tank at a Ryan Exploration well floated in Missouri River floodwaters and spilled at least 20 barrels of oil. The Ryan well was among 40 that the Oil and Gas Division ordered to be shut off when Missouri River floodwaters started rising in May.

Braun said the group will decide whether to train a six- to 10-person response team, or use one on a contract basis. State responders also will be able to use the equipment.

The group doesn’t have plans to add other types of jointly owned equipment, like for oil well fire response, though two of those in the oil zone this year have required special well fire teams from Texas.

Braun said the companies will form a mutual aid list of equipment, so that everybody knows what’s available from other companies in an emergency.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 220-5511, or lauren@westriv.com.)