Earthquakes

A state lawmaker in Oklahoma plans to hold a public forum Friday that will include comments from geologists on ongoing seismic activity in the state, as regulators prepare a response to two large earthquakes that struck last week.

Nearly 30 earthquakes struck Oklahoma over an 18-hour period from Wednesday night through Thursday afternoon, including two that measured 4.4 and 4.8 in magnitude on the Richter scale that hit 30 seconds apart, and a third that measured 4.0.

Actions taken by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) to mitigate earthquakes, coupled with a possible decline in the state’s oil and gas production for 2015, may have contributed to a slight decline in the number of small temblors to hit Oklahoma during the second half of the year, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS).

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) is preparing to take legal action, within its own court system, to compel SandRidge Energy Inc. to shut down four wastewater disposal wells and curtail operations at 40 others, in response to a series of earthquakes in recent weeks.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) ordered seven wastewater disposal wells shut in, and ordered another 66 wells to curtail their disposal volumes by 25-50%, as the regulatory agency “continues its evolving response” to a pair of strong earthquakes that struck the state within the last two weeks.

Regulators with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) are preparing to order another round of wastewater disposal wells to halt or curtail their operations, after a 4.7-magnitude earthquake — the second of such magnitude in less than two weeks and tied for third-strongest in state history — struck north-central Oklahoma on Monday.

Environmentalists are threatening to sue four Oklahoma oil/gas operators, accusing them of causing earthquakes by injecting drilling waste into underground disposal wells.

The belief that drilling waste injection wells are responsible for a spate of Oklahoma earthquakes has gathered pace in recent months; however, injection well-induced seismicity likely dates back to the 1950s or earlier, according to U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research.

More oil/natural gas wastewater disposal wells have joined the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s (OCC) action plan for reduced injections following a spate of minor earthquakes around Cushing, OK.