Earthquakes

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) on Tuesday ordered oil and natural gas wastewater disposal wells operating within six miles of a 4.5 magnitude earthquake that rocked central Oklahoma on Monday to be shut down indefinitely. The OCC’s Oil and Gas Conservation Division issued the formal directive as part of its continuing response to the quake…

Exploration and production (E&P) companies, particularly in West Texas, appear to be in a bit of a conundrum. Amid an increase in seismic activity related to Lower 48 development, producers stand to lose nearly half of their disposal capacity in key basins at the same time the amount of water they are leaving untreated is…

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has suspended all disposal well permits to inject oil and gas waste into deep strata within a portion of the Permian Basin following a series of earthquakes. The action, taken earlier in December and in effect as of Friday (Dec. 31), applies to 33 deep disposal wells within the…

Earthquakes in the Lower 48 oil and natural gas patch have been steadily increasing over the last four years and will continue to do so if the industry doesn’t adjust its methods for disposing of produced water, according to new analysis by Rystad Energy. The Oslo-based consultancy examined seismic activity in Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma,…

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

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.