As part of our series on Permian SWD water management, we thought we’d share a historical visual of Bottomhole Pressures in the Permian versus Injection volumes, for each of the major sub-basins: Midland, TXDelaware, TXSE New Mexico As you can see, over the 2018-2021 (January) time frame bottomhole pressures, shown as pressure gradients (psi/ft) toRead more
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EnergyMakers is now publishing its fifth year of Bottomhole Pressure studies across the most active oil and gas basins in the U.S. Here’s our shallow basin-wide Bottomhole Pressure trends as of 2021. (Stay tuned here for deep-well BHP trends!) Only shallow wells in New Mexico are bucking the current pressurization trends, and that is becauseRead more
As we expected, the Texas RRC has formally established the Stanton Seismic Response Area (SRA) in Martin County and a small segment of Howard County, due to continuous seismic activity in the region, including a M 4.2 event on December 31, 2020, and a M 4.6 event on December 28, 2021. The RRC attributes theRead more
As we expected, the Texas RRC has formally established the Stanton Seismic Response Area (SRA) in Martin County and a small segment of Howard County, due to continuous seismic activity in the region, including a M 4.2 event on December 31, 2020, and a M 4.6 event on December 28, 2021. The RRC attributes theRead more
In response to 4 earthquakes (M 3.1-3.7) in northwest Midland County on December 15-16 2021, the Texas RRC suspended all disposal well activity in deep formations in the Gardendale SRA. The RRC’s determination of deep formations is “below the top of the Strawn Formation and especially the Ellenburger Formation”, effectively terminating operations for 33 disposalRead more
On November 23,2021, the NMOCD issued a new framework in response to increased seismic activity believed to be related to UIC Class II injection wells throughout New Mexico. The USGS and NM Bureau of Geology has identified several locations with heightened seismic events: “County Line SRA”- approximately 35 miles east southeast of Malaga, NM; fromRead more
Image Source: Texas RRC Northern Culberson-Reeves Seismic Response Area – Up to 2 M Barrels per Day ofSWD Injection held at bay for Area Operators In another blow to SWD operators in Texas, on October 20,2021, the Texas RRC established the Northern Culberson-Reeves (NCR) Seismic Response Area (SRA) due to an increase in 4.0 MRead more
In our last blog, we reported the short-term impact of the SWD volumetric restrictions on shallow well operators in the SRA region –at the intersection of Andrews, Martin, Ector, and Midland counties. The 29 active SWD wells injecting at less than 8,000’, currently injecting at about 32 M barrels a year (estimate) will find their incrementalRead more
On to Part II: Business and Financial implications for shallow well operators and their users. First, we note that generally across the Midland basin, we see the clearest signs of pressurization amongst the really old EOR wells, which are generally shallow, and tend to be more concentrated near the flanks or edges of the basinRead more
We’ve been asked to opine on the future implications of the Seismic Response Area (SRA) recently identified by the Texas RRC. The area is located in the heart of the Midland basin, at the intersection of Andrews, Martin, Ector, and Midland counties. The intent behind the RRC’s “voluntary” curtailment requested of operators is to abate induced seismicityRead more