scholarly journals Surface Deformation and Induced Seismicity Due to Fluid Injection and Oil and Gas Extraction in Western Texas

2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanghui Deng ◽  
Timothy H. Dixon ◽  
Surui Xie
Keyword(s):  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Surface Deformation ◽  
Fluid Injection ◽  
Gas Extraction

More Than 40 yr of Potentially Induced Seismicity Close to the San Andreas Fault in San Ardo, Central California

2020 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-198
Author(s):  
Thomas H. W. Goebel ◽  
Manoochehr Shirzaei
Keyword(s):  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Surface Deformation ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Stress Transfer ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Spatial Proximity ◽  
Fluid Injection ◽  
Induced Earthquakes ◽  
Temporal Correlations ◽  
Stress Changes

Abstract Evidence for fluid-injection-induced seismicity is rare in California hydrocarbon basins, despite widespread injection close to seismically active faults. We investigate a potential case of injection-induced earthquakes associated with San Ardo oilfield operations that began in the early 1950s. The largest potentially induced events occurred in 1955 (ML 5.2) and 1985 (Mw 4.5) within ∼6  km from the oilfield. We analyze Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometric images acquired by Sentinel-1A/B satellites between 2016 and 2020 and find surface deformation of up to 1.5  cm/yr, indicating pressure-imbalance in parts of the oilfield. Fluid injection in San Ardo is concentrated within highly permeable rocks directly above the granitic basement at a depth of ∼800  m. Seismicity predominantly occurs along basement faults at 6–13 km depths. Seismicity and wastewater disposal wells are spatially correlated to the north of the oilfield. Temporal correlations are observed over more than 40 yr with correlation coefficients of up to 0.71 for seismicity within a 24 km distance from the oilfield. Such large distances have not previously been observed in California but are similar to the large spatial footprint of injection in Oklahoma. The San Ardo seismicity shows anomalous clustering with earthquakes consistently occurring at close spatial proximity but long interevent times. Similar clustering has previously been reported in California geothermal fields and may be indicative of seismicity driven by long-term, spatially persistent external forcing. The complexity of seismic behavior at San Ardo suggests that multiple processes, such as elastic stress transfer and aseismic slip transients, contribute to the potentially induced earthquakes. The present observations show that fluid-injection operations occur close to seismically active faults in California. Yet, seismicity is predominantly observed on smaller unmapped faults with little observational evidence that large faults are sensitive to induced stress changes.

Varied Responses to Human-Induced Seismicity in the City of Azle, Texas

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sarmistha R. Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Regulatory Policies ◽  
The Status

Fracking has helped to usher in an era of energy abundance in the United States. This advanced drilling procedure has helped the nation to attain the status of the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the world, but some of its negative externalities, such as human-induced seismicity, can no longer be ignored. The occurrence of earthquakes in communities located at proximity to disposal wells with no prior history of seismicity has shocked residents and have caused damages to properties. It has evoked individuals’ resentment against the practice of injection of fracking’s wastewater under pressure into underground disposal wells. Though the oil and gas companies have denied the existence of a link between such a practice and earthquakes and the local and state governments have delayed their responses to the unforeseen seismic events, the issue has gained in prominence among researchers, affected community residents, and the media. This case study has offered a glimpse into the varied responses of stakeholders to human-induced seismicity in a small city in the state of Texas. It is evident from this case study that although individuals’ complaints and protests from a small community may not be successful in bringing about statewide changes in regulatory policies on disposal of fracking’s wastewater, they can add to the public pressure on the state government to do something to address the problem in a state that supports fracking.

Simulation of proppant transport and fracture plugging in the framework of a radial hydraulic fracturing model

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 325-339
Author(s):  
Vasily N. Lapin ◽  
Denis V. Esipov
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Injection Rate ◽  
Fluid Injection ◽  
Subtraction Technique ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Proppant Transport ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture Propagation

AbstractHydraulic fracturing technology is widely used in the oil and gas industry. A part of the technology consists in injecting a mixture of proppant and fluid into the fracture. Proppant significantly increases the viscosity of the injected mixture and can cause plugging of the fracture. In this paper we propose a numerical model of hydraulic fracture propagation within the framework of the radial geometry taking into account the proppant transport and possible plugging. The finite difference method and the singularity subtraction technique near the fracture tip are used in the numerical model. Based on the simulation results it was found that depending on the parameters of the rock, fluid, and fluid injection rate, the plugging can be caused by two reasons. A parameter was introduced to separate these two cases. If this parameter is large enough, then the plugging occurs due to reaching the maximum possible concentration of proppant far from the fracture tip. If its value is small, then the plugging is caused by the proppant reaching a narrow part of the fracture near its tip. The numerical experiments give an estimate of the radius of the filled with proppant part of the fracture for various injection rates and leakages into the rock.

Energy Harvesting Under Harsh Conditions for the Oil & Gas Upstream Industry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Correia ◽  
Cátia Rodrigues ◽  
Ricardo Esteves ◽  
Ricardo Cesar Bezerra de Melo ◽  
José Gutiérrez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Harvesting ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Development Stage ◽  
Gas Extraction ◽  
Power Monitoring ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
First Time ◽  
Harsh Conditions

Abstract Environmental and safety sensing is becoming of high importance in the oil and gas upstream industry. However, present solutions to feed theses sensors are expensive and dangerous and there is so far no technology able to generate electrical energy in the operational conditions of oil and gas extraction wells. In this paper it is presented, for the first time in a relevant environment, a pioneering energy harvesting technology based on nanomaterials that takes advantage of fluid movement in oil extraction wells. A device was tested to power monitoring systems with locally harvested energy in harsh conditions environment (pressures up to 50 bar and temperatures of 50ºC). Even though this technology is in an early development stage this work opens a wide range of possible applications in deep underwater environments and in Oil and Gas extraction wells where continuous flow conditions are present.

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