Texas Regulators Limit Oil and Gas Disposal Wells in Bid to Reduce Earthquakes

According to the Railroad Commission, seven earthquakes occurred in Reeves and Culberson counties in 2023. In November, the U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 5.2 magnitude earthquake in the region, which tied for the fourth strongest seismic event in Texas history. The process of injecting saltwater back into the ground “is likely contributing to recent seismic activity,” the Railroad Commission has said.

Storing produced water in deep underground rock formations is one of the few ways oil and gas operators can get rid of the contaminated, salty mixture. These wells lie in pockets of rock formations underground.

“The water has to go somewhere,” said Robert Trentham, a senior lecturer and geologist at the University of Texas Permian Basin, in an interview about seismic activity in the region. But when the chemical compound is pumped into wedges already full of water from previous injections, it increases the pressure above the surrounding rock, contributing to seismic activity, Trentham said.

Treating produced water for desalinization is an alternative to disposal wells, but it is less affordable. Oil and gas companies have also used produced water for hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — which consists of injecting water in high-pressure tanks to break up rocks and release crude oil and other reserves.

“The obvious thing that we’re all doing … is you try to recycle all the water you possibly can,” said Laura Capper, CEO of EnergyMakers Advisory Group, an oil and gas consulting firm. “Everybody’s pretty much doing that.”

However, the amount of water required for hydraulic fracturing only accounts for a fraction of the produced water that surfaces to the ground during crude oil extraction, leaving oil and gas operators with plenty of water they still need to get rid of.

It is unclear whether the companies whose permits lapsed will continue to rely on other saltwater disposal wells in the region.

“We’re on kind of a collision course with timelines,” Capper said, referring to an increased urgency among some oil and gas operators to find alternative methods to store produced water.