Fayetteville

Environmental groups and supporters of the oil and gas industry have different opinions over claims by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that an increase in earthquakes in the Midcontinent region are more than likely caused by wastewater injection well activities.

Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) say there has been a “remarkable” increase in the number of earthquakes in the Midcontinent region, and believe the seismic activity is more than likely attributable to injection wells that handle wastewater from oil and gas drilling.

Much of the pipeline capacity into and out of the Perryville Hub in North Louisiana handles gas from the Haynesville/Bossier Shale in North Louisiana, as well as the Barnett, Fayetteville, Woodford and Eagle Ford shale plays. With gas demand from power generation growing up on the other side of the hub, and the potential for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from South Louisiana, Perryville pipeliners are streamlining trading operations.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) said Friday a dozen small earthquakes in northeastern Ohio over the last year may have been triggered by a wastewater disposal well in Youngstown, and it unveiled a series of tough new regulations for injection wells.

Earthquakes such as the one that forced a wastewater disposal well in Youngstown, OH, to be closed at the beginning of the year can be avoided if oil, natural gas and service companies are more knowledgeable of the local and regional geology, according to an energy expert.

Antero Resources has acquired from CONSOL Energy a 7% overriding royalty interest in approximately 115,647 net acres in the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania and north central West Virginia for $193 million, the companies said Monday. The deal closed Sept. 21 with an effective date of July 1, 2011.

It’s well documented by now that due to low natural gas prices a number of producers and oilfield service companies have been switching drilling efforts and asset buildup from the primarily dry gas Haynesville to “wetter” [that is, richer in crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGL)] plays such as the Eagle Ford and Marcellus. But quite a few in the industry see Haynesville as remaining a strong shale resource and eventually strengthening. It may take a few years, but many expect gas prices to eventually begin making up for ground lost to the soaring crude market.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Office of Oil and Gas (OOG) has ordered Antero Resources Appalachian Corp. and Bronco Drilling Corp. to cease operations at an Antero well pad in Harrison County, WV, following a March 21 incident in which drill cuttings were washed into a nearby stream, OOG said.

A hearing at the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission (AOGC) to consider whether two saltwater injection wells in the Fayetteville Shale are related to seismic activity in the region has been postponed to April 26 from March 29 at the request of the injection well owners, Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Operating Inc. and Little Rock, AR-based Clarita Operating LLC. The wells are currently shut in and will remain so until at least the date of the hearing and maybe longer depending on what is decided at the AOGC. Both companies maintain that their wells are not related to a recent swarm of earthquakes in the area; however, since the wells were shut in, quake activity has declined somewhat (see Shale Daily, March 17).