BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 10
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Drilling methods in the US oil and gas industry can lead to new record in earthquakes, Trend reports with reference to Rystad Energy, an independent research and business intelligence company.
Rystad Energy says that the number of noticeable earthquakes has been increasing year after year since 2017. “Tremors of above the magnitude of 2 on the Richter scale quadrupled in 2020 and are on track to increase even further in frequency in 2021 if oil and gas activity sticks to its current drilling methods at the same pace.”
Rystad Energy’s research, which examined data from Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico, showed that earthquakes of above the given magnitude accumulated to a count of 242 in 2017, growing to 491 in 2018, 686 in 2019 and 938 in 2020. Around 570 such tremors have been recorded through the first five months of 2021, meaning we may see a new record this year if the trend continues.
The biggest oil and gas industry contributor to seismic activity is by far the saltwater disposal through underground injection, and the volume of disposed water climbed sharply from 2011 through 2019, before tapering off a little in 2020 due to lower activity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the US onshore sector’s water disposal in 2011 was limited to 7.7 billion barrels, the volumes quickly built up over the next years to around 10 billion barrels between 2014 and 2017. In 2018 disposed volumes reached 11.5 billion barrels and in 2019 about 12.4 billion barrels, before retreating to 11.3 billion barrels in 2020.
“To maintain water disposal at 2020 levels and offset its coming growth, the amount of water that is treated and recycled must instead grow going forward and the cost of doing that could accumulate to above $1 billion annually for oil and gas producers. The costs can vary per region, but the Permian Basin has very competitive economics compared to other areas,” says Ryan Hassler, shale analyst at Rystad Energy.
To offset the yearly growth of disposed water that Rystad Energy is forecasting due to the coming boom in the US shale industry, the volumes of treated water must increase from the 1.5 billion barrels seen in 2020 to 1.7 billion barrels in 2021 and 2022, 1.8 billion barrels in 2023 and then rise even further from 2024 onwards as the needs to dispose water will again exceed 12 billion barrels due to increased activity.
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