Expert Says Oklahoma’s Efforts to Address Induced Seismicity are Working
Thursday October 20, 2016
One of the foremost experts on Oklahoma seismicity spoke at a webinar this week for Resources for the Future, highlighting the fact that the steps producers and regulators are taking to address induced seismicity in certain areas of the Arbuckle formation are working. As Stanford geophysicist Mark Zoback said,
“Things are subsiding. The earthquake rate is already heavily down even after six months of reduced injection rates.”
The U.S. Geological Survey announced in late August of this year that the state has seen a 22 percent decrease in magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes since the same time period in 2015. A recent EID review of Oklahoma Geological Survey data found 2.8M and greater earthquakes in Oklahoma were down 52 percent between January and April of this year and 55 percent since a June 2015 peak.
These reductions come after the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) last year implemented a new set of requirements in certain “Areas of Interest,” focusing on injections below the Arbuckle formation. The directive required operators to prove they were not injecting below that zone, or reduce disposal volumes by 50 percent. The state recently expanded that directive, and committed an additional $200,000 to help regulators respond to concerns about earthquakes. This yielded a shut in of 90 wastewate...