ML18176A031
| ML18176A031 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | HI-STORE |
| Issue date: | 03/27/2018 |
| From: | Dallas News |
| To: | Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch |
| References | |
| 83FR13802 00175, NRC-2018-0052 | |
| Download: ML18176A031 (8) | |
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More sinkholes? Penni an Basin buckling under stress of oil and gas drilling, study says I Energy I Dallas... Page 1 of 8 Tom"rrow SUNS! Review Complete OQALLASfctEWS Template = ADM-013 Q?w Pow*-~~alli,SJRonlq~~ E-RIDS=ADM-03 ADD= Antoinette Walker-BUSINESS*
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PUBLICATION DATE: 3/30/2018 CITATION# 83 FR 13802 fW @ D Oil and natural gas drilling is causing the West Texas landscape to buckle even more than previously realized, according to researchers from Southern Methodist University.
The same team previously investigated two giant sinkholes -
which have become semi-famous - near the 'town of Wink, about 70 miles west of Midland. The new study in the journal Scientific Reports
More sinkholes? Permian Basin buckling under stress of oil and gas drilling, _study says I Energy I Dallas... Page 2 of 8 published by Nature.com, found at least a half-dozen more large swaths of the Permian Basin where land is sinking or rising.
"These hazards represent a danger to residents, roads, railroads, levees, dams, and oil and gas pipelines, as well as potential pollution of groundwater," said SMU geophysicist Zhong Lu, in a written statement.
"Proactive, continuous detailed monitoring from space is critical to secure the safety of people and property."
Some of the land they studied moved as much as 40 inches during a 2 1 /2-year period, according to researchers.
A 2017 Texas Tribune story reported that an abandoned Pecos County oil well caused officials to spend more than $1 million in road repairs. The story quoted local officials as saying that rerouting the affected Farm-to-Market Road could push the cost to $15 minion.
Lu and co-author Jin-Woo Kim, an SMU research scientist in the earth sciences department, examined about 4,000 square miles using satellite radar images from the European Space Agency and compared them with oil drilling data from the Texas Railroad Commission. The research covered Pecos, Reeves, Ward and Winkler counties.
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy /2018/03/22/sinkholes-permian-basin-bucking-stress-oil-ga... 03/27/2018
More 'sinkholes? Permian Basin buckling under stress of oil and gas drilling, study says I Energy I Dallas... Page 3 of 8 Permian Basin counties in SMU study Numbers are for February 2018 and include shut in and injection wells.
%of Oil State County Wells Total Pecos 5,403 1.8%
Reeves 2,935 1.0%
Ward 6,430 2.2%
Winkler 3,120 1.1%
Four County 17,888 6.0%
Total SOURCE: Texas Railroad Commission Jeff Mosier/ DMN Those are all major oil-producing counties in the nation's most productive oil field. Combined, those counties accounted for 6 percent of Texas' 296,780 oil wells in February, according to Texas Railroad Commission figures.
"Subsidence and uplift are found in many areas, and the variety of conditions described in the report obviously require additional research to properly reflect on the situations," said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, in a written statement. "We look forward to reading the report in depth and will continue to produce oil and natural gas responsibly and safely, and in compliance with science-based rules and regulations."
The SMU researchers said they found a "significant relationship" between the ground's movement and oil drilling activities, including wastewater injection wells and carbon dioxide injection.
More sinkholes? Permian Basin buckling under stress of oil and gas drilling, study says I Energy I Dallas... Page 4 of 8 Also, underground salt formations, dissolved by leaking water, contributed to the surface changes, according to the study. The water often entered those formations through abandoned wells or damaged pipes and casings.
That phenomenon created what's known as Boehmer Lake, a collapsed area filled with salty water, south of Odessa near some of the abandoned oil wells.
"We're fairly certain that when we look further, and we are, that we'll find there's ground movement even beyond that," Kim said in a written statement. "This region of Texas has been punctured like a pincushion with oil wells and injection wells since the 1940s, and our findings associate that activity with ground movement."
Lu and Kim also published research in 2016 saying the Wink sinkholes appeared to be expanding and that the land around them was unstable. The research paper suggested that more sinkholes or one giant one could form.
The first sinkhole emerged in 1980 and was 361 feet across during the 2016 research project. The second appeared about a mile away in 2002 and was between 670 and 900 feet across.
The larger of two sinkholes near Wink, Texas off of 1-20. west of Midland-Odessa. Google Earth image (Google art https://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/2018/03/22/sinkholes-permian-basin-bucking-stress-oil-ga... 03/27/2018
More'sinkholes? Permian Basin buckling under stress of oil and gas drilling, study says I Energy I Dallas... Page 5 of 8 Business Briefing Get the latest business headlines delivered to your inbox every weekday.
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