Rash of earthquakes blamed on oil production, including a magnitude 4.9 in Texas

Three earthquakes, including one with a magnitude of 4.9, occurred on Monday in west Texas and are all related to nearby oil extraction. Scurry County, Texas, recorded three earthquakes on Monday night. At 10:38 p.m. local time, an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9 matched for the eighth-strongest in the state’s history.

Shortly after, there were two more earthquakes in the same general area: one at 11:56 p.m. with a magnitude of 3.1 and another at 10:46 p.m. with a magnitude of 4.4. A geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California named Justin Rubinstein stated, “We can say with confidence that these are related to oil and gas extractions.”

There have been no reports of injuries or damage, and the area is not very inhabited. “It could happen tomorrow”: Experts warn that the West Coast is facing numerous disasters. According to USGS research, the greatest known earthquake caused by improved oil recovery occurred on Monday and had a magnitude of 4.6 in the Cogdell Oil Field area, close to Snyder, Texas.

Before the invention of new techniques for producing oil, Texas was thought to be a relatively earthquake-free state and is not regarded as a naturally seismically active region. Earthquakes in Texas connected to improved oil recovery Induced earthquakes are defined as seismic events connected to the exploitation of natural gas and oil. Since 2019, there has been a noticeable increase in earthquake activity in the Texas region where Monday’s tremors occurred. USGS experts believe this is related to enhanced recovery techniques, which are utilized in depleted oil fields to profitably extract the most challenging oil and natural gas.

“Say you have 100 wells in one oil and gas reservoir,” said Rubinstein. “You take half of the field out of production, inject a bunch of water into those wells and the water pushes the oil over to the other side where it can be extracted.”

 

The process can also involve carbon dioxide being injected into a field to rebalance the fluid pressures, allowing more oil and natural gas to be extracted.

 

“We think that most of the earthquakes there are induced by secondary recovery and enhanced recovery,” he said. “We can’t say for certain what caused these earthquakes but it’s highly likely.”