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Page added on July 3, 2014
Oklahoma earthquake surge tied to energy industry activity
A dramatic jump in the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma to a rate never seen there by scientists before, appears to be caused by a small number of wells where wastewater associated with oil and gas production is injected into the ground, a study released on Thursday said.
Just a few of these so-called disposal wells, operating at very high volumes, “create substantial anthropogenic seismic hazard,” according to findings from Cornell University researchers published in the journal Science.
Earthquake activity in Oklahoma has skyrocketed in recent years, and the U.S. Geological Survey recently warned that the state faces increasing risk of more potentially damaging earth-shaking activity.
Through the end of June, the number of potentially damaging earthquakes – magnitude 3.0 or larger – was up more than 120 percent compared to all of last year, according to state officials.
“There is an awful lot of smoke here,” said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporations Commission, which oversees oil and gas activities in the state. “We are examining the study very, very carefully. If this is an issue, this is a risk we will manage properly.”
The worries come in a state where the local economy is closely tied to the oil and gas industry, and where officials have dubbed one of its cities, Tulsa, the “oil capital of the world.”
And while most earthquakes occur naturally, some scientists openly worry that pressurized injections of wastewater from natural gas and petroleum production deep into wells can trigger earthquakes.
Oklahoma has 4,597 such disposal wells. The Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association said because oil and gas activity is so prevalent in the state, seismic activity is likely to occur near industry operations, but that does not prove a correlation. Other states lacking significant oil and gas work also see increased seismic activity, OIPA President Mike Terry said.
“A rush to judgment based on one researcher’s findings provides no clear understanding of the causes,” he said.
Cornell’s team reported that they found earthquakes can be induced nearly 30 km, or nearly 19 miles, away from a disposal well, beyond the current range of about 5 km, or 3 miles, currently used to diagnose induced earthquakes.
Additionally, four of the highest-volume disposal wells in Oklahoma were capable of triggering 20 percent of recent earthquakes in the region, the researchers said.
Overall, Oklahoma earthquakes in areas of high industry waste water disposal constituted nearly half of all central and eastern U.S. seismicity from 2008 to 2013, they added.
For the first half of 2014, Oklahoma recorded 241 earthquakes of 3.0 or greater, up from 109 of that level in 2013, and nearly at the five-year total of 278 recorded from 2008-2013, according to state data. From 1978 to 2008, the state on average recorded only two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or larger a year.
In 2011, Oklahoma suffered its biggest recorded quake, a 5.6 magnitude event that damaged more than a dozen homes and several businesses.
6 Comments on "Oklahoma earthquake surge tied to energy industry activity"
rockman on Fri, 4th Jul 2014 6:40 am
The Cornell University researchers have a very basic problem they have not addressed as far as I can tell: huge amounts of water has been injected into reservoirs for more than 50 years. In fact, less is being injected in the last few years then when seismic activity was not news worthy.
That fact doesn’t necessarily disprove their interpretation. But neither does it provide support. One could also make a clear correlation between President Obama’s presence in the White House and increased seismic activity in OK.
Arthur on Fri, 4th Jul 2014 7:22 am
Same here. Fruit fly Holland once possessed the tenth largest natural gas field on the planet, a convenience that was largely responsible for our blessed country landing in the upper regions of all these feelgood lists, like gdp per capita en quality of life. And also responsible that our country is surprisingly lagging behind when it comes to introduction of renewable energy. Who would have thought that of that progressive liberal country, which in mentality in reality is one small America, with massive yellow-red presence of Royal Dutch Shell, the only continental European oil major that is accepted by the Anglo club of Big Seven Sisters. Ah well, Holland is basically Anglosphere, where every garbageman speaks English.
That natural gas bottle meanwhile is now more than half empty. The gasfield is situated in the Groningen province, the one that is most remote from Amsterdam, and as such not taken very seriously. But meanwhile these backwards farmers have discovered that their province is full of crack; not the stuff that the good people of Amsterdam are familiar with, but this sort of crack:
https://www.google.nl/search?q=groningen+schade+aardgas&client=tablet-android-samsung&espv=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sboxchip=Images&sa=X&ei=-5m2U-PbMaKN0AWEjIHwCA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=800
This as a consequence of the soil lowering up to 30 cm and much more to come. Earthquakes are happening all the time. Meanwhile the people of Groningen demand compensation, billions, as well as a severe decrease of the extraction rate, all bad news for the Dutch finance department.
rockman on Fri, 4th Jul 2014 8:44 am
Arthur – Just so folks don’t get confused the problems at Groningen aren’t related to drilling, frac’ng or water injection. The huge field is a pressure depletion reservoir. As the pressure was reduced to a certain level in the last 8 years or so the subsidence and seismic tremors began. It looks like most of the building damage has been mostly cosmetic such as masonry cracks.
The gov’t has required a reduction in production rates. I certainly would be upset to see cracks in my brick façade. OTOH no one has been injured at all, no one has had to vacate their home and no businesses have been impacted. So the $billions in demanded compensation seems a tad opportunistic IMHO.
BTW had they been injecting water into the reservoir all these years the problem could have likely been avoided.
Arthur on Fri, 4th Jul 2014 9:46 am
You are right rockman, but I was refering to the common denominator as referred to in the title of the article:
“earthquake surge tied to energy industry activity“
J-Gav on Fri, 4th Jul 2014 9:54 am
True, Rockman, correlation does not constitute proof. It can, at best, be used as circumstantial evidence.
But if that evidence were found in other similar circumstances around the country, its weight would increase to the point where policy-makers would probably have to take notice.
Makati1 on Fri, 4th Jul 2014 8:32 pm
Seems to me that the billions of barrels of oil taken out of the oil regions of the world would have to cause land movement eventually. Ditto the depleting of the water aquifers. I think we have only begun to see the damages of our past lifestyle on our future one.