On July 17, 2015, the
Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s Oil and Gas Conservation Division (OGCD) announced
that the scope of the current disposal well directives will be extended to 211
more disposal wells located in the Arbuckle formation.
On March 18, 2015, OGCD
promulgated new
directives for oil and gas companies operating waste disposal
wells within areas of interest for induced seismicity. These areas of interest
are defined as zones of concentrated seismic hazard including earthquake swarms.
According to the directives, operators are required to demonstrate that their
disposal wells do not inject waste fluids into the crystalline basement rock of
the Arbuckle formation. If this occurs, the disposal wells must be plugged back
by their operators. The directives also specify that, after April 18, 2015, all
disposal wells which do not comply with the plugging criteria must reduce their
volumes by 50% to continue operations.
Further information on
the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s action for mitigating induced seismicity
is available at: http://www.occeweb.com/
or http://earthquakes.ok.gov/what-we-are-doing/oklahoma-corporation-commission/.
Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
07/22/2015
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