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Is the rise in quakes natural or man-made?
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Hayes
YOUNGSTOWN
Although an earthquake study by the U.S. Geological Survey does not include Ohio, the results could have an impact on the oil and gas industry moving forward.
Beginning in 2001, the average number of earthquakes occurring per year of magnitude 3 or greater increased significantly, culminating in a sixfold increase in 2011 over 20th-century levels, according to the survey presented last week.
The survey focused on an area that started just west of Ohio and went to the Utah border. It covered most of the middle United States.
The study does not suggest fracking, the process of injecting sand, water and chemicals into the earth to remove oil and gas deposits, causes an increased rate of earthquakes, according to a statement from David J. Hayes, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The potential increase has coincided with the location of the deep injection wells.
“In preliminary findings, our scientists cite a series of examples for which an uptick in seismic activity is observed in areas where the disposal of wastewater through deep-well injection increased significantly. These areas tend to be in the middle of the country — mostly in Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Ohio,” Hayes wrote.
It is likely that the increased number of earthquakes are man-made, but it has not been determined if they are related to changes in oil and gas production methods or increasing production rates, he wrote.
“The fact that the disposal [injection] of wastewater produced while extracting resources has the potential to cause earthquakes has long been known,” Hayes wrote. “One of the earliest documented case histories with a scientific consensus of wastewater inducing earthquakes is at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal well, near Denver.”
“Before the release of the USGS report, Ohio regulators began putting in place requirements and regulations to further mitigate any risk and to alleviate public concerns,” said Dan Alfaro, communications director for Energy in Depth Ohio. “It’s a course of action the industry supports in full, while standing ready and eager to work with researchers should the industry’s insights and technical expertise be needed.”
Energy producers are working with state regulators to address concerns and taking measures to reduce the need for disposal wells, he said.
“Two years ago, virtually no water used in the well-completion process was reused or recycled,” Alfaro said. “Twenty-four months later, producers in Pennsylvania are recycling nearly 100 percent of their wastewater, and many operators in Ohio are preparing to put in place a similar management system here, once the Utica comes online.”
The more water that can be recycled, the less of it needs to be disposed using other methods. Technology is advancing quickly and being implemented broadly, he said.
Injections wells have been used safely in Ohio since the early 1980s, Alfaro said.
“In fact, because of their established record of safety, state law mandates their use. These wells are overseen day-to-day by Ohio Department of Resources, but the standards in place are set by Environmental Protection Agency under the Safe Drinking Water Act,” he said.
There are 144,000 Class II injection wells in operation, Alfaro said. There are 176 injection wells in Ohio.
According to Daren Beaudo, spokesman for BP, which recently began purchasing a significant amount of land for oil and gas development in Trumbull County, BP is aware of the recent earthquakes in this region that the state attributed to commercial injection activity.
“BP is committed to learning as much as we possibly can about the subsurface formations, including known faults prior to any drilling activities,” he said. “We do that through our expertise at capturing and interpreting geophysical data.”
It is too early in the process to determine if injection wells will be used by BP in Trumbull County, Beaudo said.
“Our next steps in 2012 will be to work to better understand the subsurface so we can formulate a development plan,” he said.
Youngstown-based D&L Energy Inc. declined to comment for this story. ODNR linked the company’s Ohio Works Drive to 13 earthquakes over the past 15 months.