Injections

May natural gas is set to open 5 cents lower Thursday morning at $2.56 as traders expect that a government report will show an increase in inventories far above historical norms. Overnight oil markets rose.

May natural gas is set to open 5 cents lower Thursday morning at $2.56 as traders expect that a government report will show an increase in inventories far above historical norms. Overnight oil markets rose.

Seismologists at Southern Methodist University said Tuesday that high volumes of wastewater injection combined with saltwater extraction…

Seismologists at Southern Methodist University (SMU) said Tuesday that high volumes of wastewater injection combined with saltwater extraction from natural gas wells is the “most likely cause” of earthquakes occurring near the Barnett Shale town of Azle, TX, from late 2013 through spring 2014.

May natural gas is set to open unchanged Thursday morning at $2.62 ahead of a government storage report that is expected to show the second build of the newly-minted injection season. Overnight oil markets rose.

Seismic activity in Kansas has been on the rise for a while and has been blamed on drilling waste injection wells, so state regulators recently acted to limit injection volumes where tremors have been prevalent. And in neighboring Oklahoma, injection well operators were recently required to limit the depth of their disposals.

California regulators moved Tuesday to close 12 oil and gas underground injection wells in Kern County and are reviewing others to ensure that the state’s drinking water is protected from contamination.

Not long ago, Texas could boast about half of the nation’s operating drilling rigs. The Lone Star State’s slice of the drilling pie — a shrinking pie at that — is now down to 46% as producers drop rigs in a low-price environment. January well completions were down almost 45% from a year ago, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).

In response to federal reviews that suggest that state regulators have allowed oil companies to contaminate protected aquifers, California oil/natural gas regulators have filed a plan with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to correct regulatory deficiencies.