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Magnitude 5.0, 4.7 quakes strikes Culberson county, West

Texas

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Saltwater injection during fracking linked to increased

seismic

activity

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Earthquakes could serve as tailwind for pending water

disposal

projects

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Water management costs set to increase

By Georgina McCartney

HOUSTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Two large earthquakes that

hit the Permian basin, the top U.S. oilfield, this week have

rattled the Texas oil industry and put a fresh spotlight on the

water disposal practices that can lead to increases in seismic

activity, industry consultants said on Tuesday.

A magnitude 5.0 quake struck on Feb. 14, followed by a

magnitude 4.7 temblor on Tuesday morning, both in Culberson

County in West Texas, according to the United States Geological

Survey.

The earthquakes happened in an area that is already being

watched by Texas Railroad Commission (RRC), the state's oil

regulator, due to a jump in seismic activities linked to

fracking.

Injection of saltwater, a natural byproduct of oil and gas

production, as part of the fracking process, has been linked to

increased seismic activity in oil-producing regions, including

in Texas and Oklahoma. In both states, regulators have put

limits on wastewater injection as a way of curbing the quakes.

The largest earthquake to rattle Culberson was in 2022,

measuring 5.4 in magnitude.

The most recent quakes could serve as tailwind for pending

water disposal projects in the Basin, said Kelly Bennett,

founder and CEO of B3 Insight, a consultancy offering oilfield

water intelligence, as operators look for more ways to dispose

of wastewater.

That includes privately-held midstream water management

company WaterBridge's project in the Delaware Basin to construct

and operate produced water handling infrastructure for BPX

, with the ability to handle up to 600,000 barrels per day

of water as part of a ten-year commitment, in the next three

years.

"I think we all agree that the cost of water management is

going to have to increase in order to provide a means to

transport water away from these areas that are problematic,"

Bennett said.

The RRC is currently contemplating a number of injection

policy changes for new saltwater disposal wells, and the focus

will likely be on shallow injection pressures, and continued

monitoring of deep seismicity, according to Laura Capper, with

energy advisory EnergyMakers.

According to the RRC's current guidance, these quakes could

lead to further curtailments on water disposal affecting one

well, according to Bennett.

The RRC last January

banned saltwater disposal

injection in the Northern Culberson-Reeves Seismic Response

Area, after a series of seven earthquakes measuring up to

magnitude 5.2 occurred in a span of just five weeks towards the

end of 2023.

"Earthquake activity has gone down in Northern

Culberson-Reeves over the last several years, most likely

because we did restrict volumes going down," Capper said.

The RRC did not immediately respond for comment.