This morning another earthquake occurred in the Culberson SRA region in West Texas, with Texnet currently categorizing the quake as a magnitude M 4.7. That makes 28 earthquakes so far this year which exceed magnitude 4.0 in the Culberson SRA region. While no physical damage occurred, (which would be unlikely at that magnitude), the consistentRead more
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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
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
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
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
When it rains, it pours! By now you have likely heard of the 5.0 earthquake detected in Culberson county, 175 miles W of El Paso, about 26 miles West of Mentone, Texas. I checked on the population of Mentone – the last update was in 2010 with a reported population of 19, which at the time wasRead more