The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) on Thursday ordered an oil and natural gas wastewater injection well shut down in Kingfisher County in response to overnight earthquake activity.

Regulators ordered Choate Disposal Services LLC to stop operations at its Choate SWD No. 1 well after seismic activity was reported in the Hennessey area. The Choate well disposes of drilling waste in the Arbuckle formation. The well was one of two in the area forced to reduce injection volumes last October for similar reasons. The other well has stopped injecting into the Arbuckle.

The OCC also issued a directive requiring further volume reductions at Arbuckle disposal wells in the Enid area of nearby Garfield County. The directive, regulators said, applies to disposal wells within 10 miles of recent earthquakes in the area.

Average volumes of more than 2,000 barrels per day are to be reduced by 25%. That affects seven disposal wells in the area, OCC said. Another eight wells with average volumes of less than 2,000 barrels per day are restricted to their last 60-day average. OCC said the directive would result in a volume reduction of 3,350 barrels per day.

The move comes 10 days after the OCC ordered volume reductions for injection wells in the Covington/Douglas area about 20 miles to the east of Enid in Garfield County, following earthquake activity in that area.

Over the last three years, state regulators have shut-in scores of disposal wells and ordered reductions in response to the swarms of low intensity seismic activity linked to them.