Disposal

Matador Resources Co. expects to drill nine wells before the end of the year at its Rodney Robinson leasehold in Eddy County, NM, management said Wednesday. Dallas-based Matador said it is currently running two drilling rigs at Rodney Robinson in the western portion of the firm’s Antelope Ridge asset area in the Permian Basin’s Delaware…

Layne Water Midstream LLC (LWM) has reached agreement with the Texas General Land Office (GLO) to expand its oilfield water footprint in the Permian Basin.

Layne Water Midstream LLC (LWM) has reached agreement with the Texas General Land Office (GLO) to expand its oilfield water footprint in the Permian Basin.

A Native American tribe in Oklahoma has filed a lawsuit against several oil and gas companies, alleging their wastewater disposal activities triggered the largest recorded earthquake in the state’s history last September and caused extensive damage to the reservation.

Regulators in Oklahoma said the number of earthquakes in the state has declined since they began issuing directives to reduce wastewater disposal volumes, but their latest directive aims to limit future volume increases.

Oklahoma regulators have directed operators of more than 50 wastewater injection wells near Cushing to either cease or scale back their operations, in response to a magnitude-5.0 earthquake that struck near the crude storage and transportation hub last weekend.

State and federal regulators said 64 wastewater disposal wells targeting the Arbuckle Formation in Oklahoma should be either shut in or have reduced operations, after a Tuesday evening earthquake that measured 4.5 on the Richter scale struck the same area as the state’s largest temblor recorded in September.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended that Oklahoma regulators enact a moratorium on oil and natural gas disposal wells in sensitive areas of the Arbuckle Formation. The agency said it is concerned that the state’s response to injection-induced seismicity is both inconsistent and ineffective.

Oklahoma authorities last Saturday ordered more disposal wells shut down in a 725-square-mile area of the Arbuckle formation following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that rattled the area near Pawnee, OK.