Gas company receives high volume of leak calls on Thursday

New Mexico Gas Company personnel were busy Thursday answering calls around Clovis about the smell of gas.

“We had a high volume of leak calls,” said Tim Korte, communications manager for New Mexico Gas Co.

“Typically we might have five or six calls a day. Thursday we had 92. We had people working until 10 p.m. Thursday.”

Korte said the source of the increased number of gas smells was “what we call upstream of the Clovis service area.” He declined to be specific but said the odorant calls came from all over the city.

Korte said odorant is the harmless additive put in natural gas to give it the “rotten egg” smell people associate with natural gas; its natural state is odorless, he said.

“The odorant levels were slightly higher than normal but still at an acceptable level,” Korte said.

Cannon Air Force Base posted on its Facebook page, “We believe these leaks were caused by complications to gas feeds that required temporary adjustments to maintain flow by the supplier.”

Gas smells were reported in base housing; some leaks were found, mostly in connections to appliances, Cannon posted.

Korte said Friday the company was still looking into why the odorant levels were high, but he said there were no explosions or injuries related to the incident.

“We always encourage our customers to call if they smell gas. Smell it? Call anytime, 1-888-664-2726 or call 911,” Korte said.