Fracking in Oklahoma, as well as elsewhere, has been on the decline, thanks to the oil price slump. Quakes, however, are continuing at alarming rates. A CBC report on the situation notes anecdotal evidence that capping wells could possibly reduce seismic activity, but anecdotal evidence is insufficient.
There is a growing body of evidence that fracking, as well as traditional oil extraction to a lesser extent, can be directly linked to an increase in seismic activity. The studies that have accumulated this evidence became necessary as some of America’s biggest oil-producing regions started experiencing more than their fair – and historical – share of earthquakes.
Oklahoma has been dubbed by media the new earthquake capital of the country. Prior to 2009, the state had fairly negligible seismic activity. Then the shale boom started gathering pace, and today, the state is being shaken by an average of two quakes a day. Related: Holding 30% Of June Brent Crude Contracts, Is Glencore Manipulating Oil Prices
Before 2009, insurers in Oklahoma had no reason to make earthquake coverage part of their standard offering. Since that year, it has become a very sought-after insurance product. But supply is tightening, according to a Reuters research. Oklahoma insurers seem to be getting increasingly aware of the fact that upping the premiums for earthquake coverage (by 200% in some cases) is not sufficient to avoid substantial losses at this rate of seismic activity. They are removing this coverage from their service offering and rejecting claims for quake-caused damage, attributing it instead to houses settling or just being plain too old. Related: Oil On Track To Balance Later This Year
The state government has done its own research into the link between fracking and earthquakes. The conclusion is that there is such a link. As to what is to be done, the picture remains hazy.
Oil and gas are an anchor industry for Oklahoma. This is the state where the country’s strategic crude oil reserves are kept, at Cushing. The industry is a vital contributor to state revenues, but this may have to change. How, exactly, is a difficult question to answer but people who have had their homes damaged in some of the stronger quakes that have hit Oklahoma since 2009 believe the money and the jobs that the industry provides are not worth the constant risk of having your home fall over your head. Related: Petrobras Offloads $1.4B In Assets Amidst Political Turmoil
There is a scarier thought, however. It might be too late. There hasn’t been any definitive scientific finding supporting the suggestion that once fracking stops in an area that has experienced increased seismic activity, this activity will stop as well. On the contrary, the focus on the relation between hydraulic fracturing, which involves the injection of great quantities of pressurized liquids into the oil-bearing shale rock, is relatively recent.
Oklahoma is now addressing quake fears, and is requiring that E&Ps reduce the amount of wastewater that goes into the ground after it’s been used to release the oil and gas, by 40 percent. The effectiveness of this plan remains to be seen. On the positive side, it’s at least something. On the negative, it may well be too little too late. And oil and gas producers may have to start preparing for a tsunami of lawsuits.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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The rock formations being targeted for drilling today, and fracking is drilling, are more than a mile below the surface typically. There have been more than 1 million oil and gas wells drilled in North America since the late 1800s and the drilling techniques haven't changed too much in the past 40 years.
Fracking requires the use of sand and water and some chemicals pushed down miles into the rock to open up small fissures that will allow traped oil or gas to flow. Combined with technology that allowed drillers to drill horizontally, fracking has allowed oil and gas to be produced from rock formations that wouldn't have been economic prior.
Before a new fracked well produces much oil and gas, the fracking fluid needs to come back up. Handling of this fluid at the surface had been an environmental issue when not done correctly, but now the industry has really solved this issue since they have an economic interest to do so. Much of this fracking fluid is captured and recycled on site for additional drilling by large contractors like BHI an HAL.
However, wells in certain rock formations, such as certain Oklahoma drilling targets, produce alot of water that had previously been trapped under ground. This is salty water, sometimes called Brine, and in some cases the remnants of seas from millions of years ago.
BRINE, AS THIS WATER CAN BE CALLED, is produced over time and removed from the oil flow and disposed of down a disposal well.
These Disposal wells are typically privately owned and operated and are therefore very difficult to regulate or intimidate.
THE PROBLEM:
Many of the disposal wells go down to what scientists call the basement, which is where rock that is part of techtonic plates begins. With so much drilling in Oklahoma, both fracking and traditional drilling, producing so much more Brine, there is alot of water going down these holes. In some cases, where the basement rock is being lubricated at known faults, seismic activity such as quakes is happening.
Not all wells have this problem and the ones that do are known to geologists and have been known well before fracking become a know word. However, since the wells are largely privately owned, the owners have rights and it is hard to prove specific causation to specific earthquakes.
Therefore, Fracking, is not the issue. Disposal of produced water from wells is the issue. Some fracked wells produce very little water, in example. The earthquakes are an issue of regulating which disposal wells can handle how much brine and fluids and how to dispose of these fluids going forward.
Thanks for an easy to understand explanation. I'm not an oil person and feel like I understand the issue much better for your comment
They know exactly what they're doing when they induce seismicity. It doesn't matter to them. Buying politicians (i.e., governors Fallin, Brownback) is much cheaper than operating relatively safely.
The astronomical increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas has been caused mostly by high volume, high pressure injection wells, but the fracking process itself can't be ruled out. Most of the quakes have epicenters close to fracked wells, and the vast majority in those two states occur at the same depth as the horizontal drilled extensions: 3.1 mi/5 km
Earthquake insurance is near-worthless. A neighbor passed along a comment she'd heard. "If your house is badly damaged, you're better off throwing a match into it and letting it burn, because fire insurance will cover it more thoroughly.
the rise in earthquakes is because of fracking. insurance, inventory, labor, and housing costs will change as a result of the relatively high risk of a quake.