Page 9 - NorthAmOil Week 02 2022
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NorthAmOil PERFORMANCE NorthAmOil
Shale drillers struggle with seismic
activity, disposal restrictions
US US shale drillers are struggling with seismic monitoring seismic activity in the area and
activity that has been associated with wastewa- would take additional actions as necessary.
ter disposal. In particular, reports have recently Producers in the affected area will have to
emerged of earthquakes in the Permian Basin. find alternatives for handling their wastewater,
Last week, consultancy Rystad Energy said which could include piping or trucking it longer
in a note that earthquakes in West Texas above distances to underused disposal wells on adja-
magnitude 2.0 had nearly doubled in 2021, from cent acreage. Rystad noted that the costs involved
1,110 to 1,929. The earthquakes have not caused would dictate what solutions operators adopt.
any major damage, but they have focused atten- Operators with disposal operations in the
tion on wastewater disposal operations. areas where deep disposal wells have been sus-
Injection of wastewater Indeed, in late December, the Railroad Com- pended or where disposal volumes could be
into disposal wells has mission of Texas (RRC), which regulates oil and reduced include ConocoPhillips, Rattler Mid-
been associated with gas activity in Texas, suspended deep disposal stream, NGL Energy Partners, Coterra Energy
seismic activity. wells in four oil-producing counties in West and Chevron, according to Rystad. The con-
Texas amid a spike in seismic events. The suspen- sultancy estimated that these companies could
sion applies to 33 deep disposal wells within the stand to lose upwards of 50% of their disposal
boundaries of the Gardendale Seismic Response capacity in key acreage positions.
Area (SRA). Wastewater injections also were Rystad said that in percentage terms, treated
suspended as of December 15 in a smaller area volumes reached their highest level in 2018 and
within the Gardendale SRA, and other limita- 2019, representing 9.4% and 9.6% of total pro-
tions were put in place in Culberson and Reeves duced water volumes respectively. According to
counties. the consultancy’s outlook up to 2026, such levels
The RRC said it planned to continue closely will not be met again.
POLICY
Biden administration to reverse
Trump-era NPR-A decision
ALASKA THE administration of US President Joe Biden also include certain more protective lease stipu-
announced this week that it would reverse a deci- lations and operating procedures for threatened
sion made by his predecessor, Donald Trump, and endangered species from the 2020 IAP, the
to open up a section of the National Petroleum BLM added.
Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) to oil and gas leasing. “This decision reflects the Biden-Harris
Trump’s administration approved a plan to administration’s priority of reviewing existing oil
open up an additional 7mn acres (in the NPR-A and gas programs to ensure balance on America’s
to leasing in December 2020, shortly before his public lands and waters to benefit current and
departure from office. This brought the total future generations,” the BLM stated.
that was open to development to 18.6mn acres Notably, Trump’s plan opened up the Teshek-
(75,272 square km), or more than 80% of the puk Lake area to new development, which has
23mn-acre (93,078-square km) reserve. That proved controversial owing to the fact that the
plan, in turn, marked a reversal from former US region is the site of a habitat for various types
President Barack Obama’s plan to restrict drill- of Arctic wildlife. ConocoPhillips’ Willow dis-
ing in parts of the NPR-A. covery is located around 20 miles (32 km) from
Now, the Biden administration has said it Teshekpuk Lake at its closest point.
would return to Obama-era rules for develop- No lease sales had been conducted under the
ment in the reserve. The Bureau of Land Man- Trump administration’s new plan prior to his
agement (BLM), part of the US Department of departure from office, as the last lease sale held in
the Interior (DoI), said on January 10 that it was the NPR-A was in 2019. Trump’s efforts to boost
filing a status report with the US District Court oil and gas development in Alaska also struggled
for the District of Alaska that would see man- to get off the ground because of low crude prices,
agement of the NPR-A revert to the 2013 Inte- which caused many drillers to prioritise easi-
grated Activity Plan (IAP) if approved. It would er-to-target shale plays in the Lower 48 states.
Week 02 13•January•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
