by By Georgina McCartney
Houston (Reuters) -Two large earthquakes that can lead the Perman basin, the top US oil field, to the oil industry in Texas this week and the water conservation practices for increasing the seismic activities, the advisors of the industry informed about the Industry consultant. Tuesday.
A quake of the strength 5.0 on February 14, followed by a Temblor of 4.7 on Tuesday morning, both in Culberson County in West Texas, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Trusty news and daily delicacies, exactly in your inbox
Convince yourself of yourself, the point of contact for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
The earthquakes occurred in an area that has already been observed by the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), the state’s oil regulatory authority, due to a seismic activities related to fracking.
The injection of salt water, a natural by-product of oil and gas production as part of the fracking process, was associated with an increased seismic activity in oil production regions, including in Texas and Oklahoma. In both states, the supervisory authorities have limited the wastewater injection to contain the quake.
The largest earthquake for Rassel Culberson was in 2022 and measured 5.4 in size.
The recent quakes could serve as a tailwind for pending water disposal projects in the pool, said Kelly Bennett, founder and CEO of B3 Insight, advice that offers oil field aid, while the operators are looking for more options for disposing of waste water.
This includes the project of privately held Midstream Water Management Company Waterbridge from Waterbridge in the Delaware basin for construction and operation produced water processing infrastructure for BPX, with the ability to manage up to 600,000 barrels per day in the next three Years.
“I think we all agree that the cost of water management has to increase to offer a means of transporting water from problematic areas,” said Bennett.
The RRC is currently considering a number of injection guidelines for new salt water disposal fountains, and the focus will probably be on the flat injection pressure and the continued monitoring of the deep seismicity, according to Laura Capper with Energy Advisory Energymakers.
According to the current guidelines of the RRC, these quakes could lead to further restrictions on water sales, according to Bennett.
The RRC in January last January banned the salt water disposal injection in the northern Seismic Response area in northern Culberson-Reeves, after a number of seven earthquakes up to size 5.2 occurred in just five weeks towards the end of 2023.
“Earthquake activity has dropped in North Culberson-Reeves in recent years, most likely because we have restricted the volumes,” said Capper.
The RRC did not answer a comment immediately.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editor from Marguerita Choy)
