Berliner Boersenzeitung - Shaken by fracking quakes, Texas is forced to act

EUR -
AED 4.266341
AFN 80.25988
ALL 97.859701
AMD 445.743086
ANG 2.078798
AOA 1065.12704
ARS 1465.244846
AUD 1.790852
AWG 2.090763
AZN 1.974075
BAM 1.954252
BBD 2.343854
BDT 140.808464
BGN 1.955014
BHD 0.437929
BIF 3459.304529
BMD 1.161535
BND 1.491138
BOB 8.021646
BRL 6.468707
BSD 1.160771
BTN 99.732143
BWP 15.678581
BYN 3.798907
BYR 22766.084793
BZD 2.331763
CAD 1.593109
CDF 3352.189595
CHF 0.932476
CLF 0.0293
CLP 1124.366077
CNY 8.338693
CNH 8.341482
COP 4662.401243
CRC 585.746111
CUC 1.161535
CUP 30.780676
CVE 110.176306
CZK 24.63964
DJF 206.71448
DKK 7.463559
DOP 70.005753
DZD 151.211261
EGP 57.402705
ERN 17.423024
ETB 160.604671
FJD 2.623269
FKP 0.867169
GBP 0.866917
GEL 3.148002
GGP 0.867169
GHS 12.101414
GIP 0.867169
GMD 83.048897
GNF 10074.453611
GTQ 8.906868
GYD 242.85763
HKD 9.117788
HNL 30.367645
HRK 7.530929
HTG 152.420579
HUF 399.57208
IDR 18956.656733
ILS 3.897588
IMP 0.867169
INR 99.751688
IQD 1520.682363
IRR 48929.659371
ISK 142.206423
JEP 0.867169
JMD 185.624563
JOD 0.823549
JPY 172.550085
KES 150.128378
KGS 101.575853
KHR 4653.354101
KMF 491.619442
KPW 1045.441284
KRW 1615.218164
KWD 0.355116
KYD 0.967325
KZT 612.199801
LAK 25027.95967
LBP 104026.054808
LKR 350.054226
LRD 232.743638
LSL 20.837215
LTL 3.42971
LVL 0.702601
LYD 6.305951
MAD 10.502681
MDL 19.710218
MGA 5115.947615
MKD 61.511012
MMK 2438.160489
MNT 4166.085403
MOP 9.385984
MRU 46.231234
MUR 53.067686
MVR 17.884566
MWK 2012.905561
MXN 21.775645
MYR 4.931293
MZN 74.291175
NAD 20.837484
NGN 1774.365959
NIO 42.718369
NOK 11.938076
NPR 159.575347
NZD 1.959614
OMR 0.446628
PAB 1.160781
PEN 4.133626
PGK 4.7893
PHP 66.46648
PKR 331.037166
PLN 4.252801
PYG 8988.802507
QAR 4.22102
RON 5.07196
RSD 117.145441
RUB 90.602116
RWF 1677.38577
SAR 4.356712
SBD 9.647407
SCR 17.054237
SDG 697.506083
SEK 11.314564
SGD 1.493252
SHP 0.912784
SLE 26.308719
SLL 24356.811476
SOS 663.380242
SRD 43.120245
STD 24041.428096
SVC 10.156867
SYP 15102.139451
SZL 20.798346
THB 37.725483
TJS 11.1147
TMT 4.076988
TND 3.371351
TOP 2.720425
TRY 46.787832
TTD 7.876795
TWD 34.239147
TZS 3025.797927
UAH 48.609596
UGX 4159.705063
USD 1.161535
UYU 46.952404
UZS 14838.609091
VES 135.858953
VND 30361.942523
VUV 138.714387
WST 3.198055
XAF 655.443461
XAG 0.030559
XAU 0.000348
XCD 3.139106
XDR 0.815154
XOF 655.432184
XPF 119.331742
YER 280.336286
ZAR 20.735718
ZMK 10455.206645
ZMW 26.467149
ZWL 374.013776
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Shaken by fracking quakes, Texas is forced to act
Shaken by fracking quakes, Texas is forced to act

Shaken by fracking quakes, Texas is forced to act

"You get used to it. The walls shake," says Sam, a resident of Midland, a town in west Texas where hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas -- known as "fracking" -- is causing more and more earthquakes.

Text size:

"Then another tremor comes a second later, like a truck passing nearby," said the 44-year-old, who did not wish to disclose his last name.

Echoing his words, three quakes rocked the ground in just one day on February 4.

This region of the Permian Basin, from which 40 percent of US oil and 15 percent of its gas are extracted, experienced nine earthquakes greater than three-magnitude in 2019, 51 in 2020 and 176 in 2021, according to market intelligence firm Sourcenergy.

What causes earthquakes is not fracking itself, but injecting the wastewater into wells. The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates oil activities, has had to impose new rules on water disposal.

- 'Fox guarding the henhouse' -

Drilling companies must deal with huge quantities of water that come up when fracking -- water makes up about 80 percent of the fluid pumped out of the ground.

Almost 4,000 active wells have been drilled specifically to collect the wastewater in the Permian Basin.

"As you get more and more water getting pumped into the ground... you're filling up these spaces," said Joshua Adler, CEO of Sourcenergy, which helps oil companies improve water management.

"In some of these spaces, you got these cracks or fault lines. You're pushing it harder and harder, and maybe you hit that fault line and maybe it makes it slip and that's an earthquake."

Since 2012, daily oil production have multiplied five-fold in the Permian Basin, so water injections into wells has also multiplied.

"In Oklahoma, they basically kind of dragged their feet for years and denied that there was any problem" when earthquakes increased in the 2010s, Adler said.

In Texas, as soon as earthquakes increased, the Railroad Commission started to study the issue, he said. "They didn't wait until it was a giant problem."

Between September and January, it defined three geographical areas at risk.

In the most populous, Gardendale, where the cities of Midland and Odessa are located, it ordered the suspension of deep injections of water into seven wells in mid-December.

After four more earthquakes of magnitudes between 3.1 and 3.7, it extended the measure to 26 more wells.

The regulator is waiting for industry proposals in the two other areas identified, Stanton and Northern Culberson-Reeves.

But Neta Rhyne, 72, who lives near Northern Culberson-Reeves, believes that "it's like asking the fox to guard the chicken coop."

- Locals divided -

Last week, she again asked the Railroad Commission, as she has been doing since 2016, for a hearing following new requests to drill water disposal wells in her region.

She fears an earthquake could affect the source of one of the largest natural spring-fed pools in the world, a stone's throw from her home in Balmorhea Nature Park, Toyahvale.

The Texas Parks Department declined to respond to AFP's questions, but press officer Stephanie Salinas Garcia acknowledged "concerns that earthquakes could affect the spring system."

"Here, it's small communities. People don't want to cause problems, they don’t want to voice their concerns," said Rhyne, who owns a dive shop near the Balmorhea natural pool.

Suspending water injection is set to impose hefty costs on oil companies, who will have to transport water off site via pipeline, or even by truck.

Sam, the resident in Midland, says local reaction to the quakes is divided.

"Old people complain a bit about earthquakes. But young people never! Three-quarters live off oil.

"Even when it smells of hydrogen sulfide emitted from the wells, they say it smells of money."

(O.Joost--BBZ)