Earthquakes

Confirmation that horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) caused three central Alberta earthquakes since 2014 has resulted in tightened safety controls on industry operations.

A new geological study that focused on areas of the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma shows that differences in density between underground water and wastewater from oil and gas drilling injected into the ground corresponds with continued earthquakes long after the drilling stops.

A pair of central Alberta winter earthquakes has triggered a ban against hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in deep oil and natural gas wells around a power dam and reservoir 144 miles southwest of the provincial capital in Edmonton.

Links between hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and earthquakes, and predicting and preventing the tremors, remain riddles requiring far more scientific study, according to a report commissioned by the British Columbia (BC) government.

Although the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma measuring 3.0-magnitude or greater declined for the third straight year, the state’s seismologist said researchers expect such quakes, most of which are attributed to wastewater injection, will continue for years, perhaps a decade or longer.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on Friday was suspended for at least 30 days in a sensitive corner of the Montney natural gas formation in northeastern British Columbia (BC) while an investigation is completed into two earthquakes that struck on Nov. 29.

Regulators in Oklahoma ordered Roan Resources Inc. to halt completion operations at an oil well after the Midcontinent region was struck by a 3.4-magnitude earthquake on Sunday evening.

A Department of Interior official said the agency is moving forward to open a portion of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas leasing in 2019, and predicted that a lease sale scheduled for the region will attract significant interest from producers.

A judge in Oklahoma has determined that a lawsuit filed after an earthquake, currently the second most powerful temblor recorded in the state’s history, can move forward with class action status.