Many of us jumped to attention with news of the recent high magnitude event near Mentone, Texas (see some of our earlier blogs on the March 26 M 4.6-5.0 earthquake in the Texas Delaware basin). Interestingly, we failed to also point out there have been at least 3 series of recent U.S. based seismic eventsRead more
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EnergyMakers Advisory Group has long been cautioning stakeholders not to be too quick to indict disposal wells for Delaware, Texas area seismicity. Other factors may also be at play in the region. While SWD disposal has proven to be causal to induced seismicity in many areas including Arkansas, Colorado, parts of Texas, and broadly inRead more
The persistent presence of low magnitude earthquakes in the Delaware Basin, namely in Reeves County, is prompting Texas regulators to enact new policies for reviewing disposal well permits. The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), the state agency charged with regulating the exploration, production, and transportation of oil and gas, acknowledges that the landscape is about toRead more
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake recorded northeast of Amarillo on October 20th has seismologists asking an increasingly familiar question: was the earthquake a result of naturally occurring shifts in fault systems? Or, was it induced by oil and gas activities in the region? Earthquakes are not new to the Texas Panhandle. The region has aRead more
In Kingfisher County, the heart of Oklahoma’s oil patch, the summer of 2018 has seen concerns about produced water handling turn into a heated fight between state regulators and oil and gas companies. The heart of the conflict centers on the use of water in temporary piping (most typically, flexible lay-flat hoses) that are placedRead more
When earthquakes are discussed on the news, reporters always state the location of the quake’s epicenter with such certainty. But in fact, there is a large margin of error associated with earthquake locations derived from then-available seismic monitoring systems. As EnergyMakers Advisory Group’s Laura Capper writes in her recent article in Shale Play WaterRead more
EnergyMakers AG’s Underground Injection and Seismicity Operational Risk Report does a deep dive into induced seismicity—and how fluid injection from oilfield activities and wastewater disposal activities might induce felt earthquakes in certain geologic conditions. According to Myths and Facts by J.L. Rubinstein (USGS) and A.B. Mahani (Geological Survey of Canada), there are four major ways thatRead more