On January 13,
2016, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) announced the launch of a
new emergency action plan in response to recent earthquakes near the Fairview
area in north central Oklahoma. On January 4, the USGS reported a swarm of
earthquakes including a magnitude 4.8 earthquake located less than 20 miles from
the Fairview area. As a result, the Commission called for changes in disposal
well operating activities, imposing a total disposal volume reduction of
approximately 18% for 27 wells in the area.
Interestingly,
the Commission stated that “the seismic events that occurred during the week of
January 4th, 2016, in the Fairview area appear to have a very close
correlation to the storms that created power outages in such area. It is
believed that the power outage may have created a situation where a number of
producing wells were shut in, then simultaneously came back on line. When the
wells began producing again, this apparently resulted in a tremendous volume of
produced water being disposed into the Arbuckle formation at the same time.”
Therefore, the Commission
recommended a gradual return to activity in similar incidents to mitigate the potential
seismic impacts.
Written by Chloe Marie - Research Fellow
01/15/2016
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