Shale gas development: hydraulic fracturing adds "new charges"

According to a recent report by Reuters, the latest research shows that reclaiming wastewater into the ground through treatment wells during oil and gas exploration may be a “behind-the-scenes push” for earthquakes in the central region of Oklahoma in the United States in recent years. The research, led by Cornell University, has been published in the latest issue of Science.

According to the report, only about 240 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.0 and above occurred in Oklahoma this year, twice as many as California. Before the oil and gas development in 2008, the local earthquake rate was only once a year.

The researchers found that in 2012, many earthquakes in Oklahoma City were closely related to four wells in the southeastern region. The four wells use high pressure to reclaim the waste water generated during the oil and gas development process into the underground disposal well. The results of the study show that the operation of this wastewater disposal well has increased underground pressure, resulting in a surge in seismic activity in the vicinity of nearly 2,000 square kilometers.

"The earthquakes are not natural, and these wastewater treatment wells have a great impact on the underground system," said Joffrey Abers, a professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and one of the study's authors. The largest amount of wastewater pumped by the hydraulic fracturing treatment well is up to 1.6 million barrels per month. The treatment well continues to pump wastewater to the underground sediments, causing pressure build-up and increasing pore pressure, which ultimately leads to disasters."

The study also found that seismic multi-distance wastewater treatment wells have a certain distance and there is a delay in time. Abbes said: "Sometimes the pumping start time may be several months or even years away from the earthquake." The increase in underground pressure has led to an increase in the fracture layer, which has increased the possibility of high-magnitude earthquakes.

According to the Oklahoma Business Council, which oversees the safety of local oil and gas exploration, the largest wastewater treatment well in the area is owned by oil and gas exploration company New Dominion, and at least four high-flow treatment wells are currently filed for bankruptcy. Company Beard Oil.

Herb Demi, president of Beard Oil, argued in an interview that the company filed for bankruptcy in October 2012 and that the processing well in its name was also shut down in December. "The power of the earthquake is indeed far greater than it used to be, and we can't do anything about it, but we shouldn't blame us for it."

In response to the results of the study, the Oklahoma Business Council said it is not yet available for comment.

In fact, the hydraulic fracturing method has been controversial since its application. The results of this study undoubtedly add to the “new crime” that triggered the earthquake. The US Geological Survey also released a report in 2013 that the earthquakes in the Midwestern United States in the past 10 years have been “almost certainly artificial”, including the hydraulic fracturing method and wastewater re-injection used in oil and gas development. It is the main "contributor."

It is understood that as the most widely used operation method for developing shale oil and gas in the United States, the use of hydraulic fracturing to produce oil and gas will generate a large amount of wastewater, and high pressure reinjection is a common waste water treatment method in the industry. The reason why hydraulic fracturing and wastewater reinjection induce earthquakes is because the high-pressure underground injection method used in these two industrial operations increases the pore pressure on the seismic fault, and the increased pore pressure will spread along the fault zone, thus Both local and distant fault zones are affected by it.

According to information, the first earthquake caused by hydraulic fracturing wastewater treatment wells occurred in Youngstown, Ohio, USA. From the time the wastewater treatment well was put into use in December 2010 to the closure in 2011, scientists recorded at least 109 regional earthquakes, after only one magnitude 3.9 earthquake occurred in the area.

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