View Full Version : Arkansas Earthquakes



Double Edge
03-05-2011, 09:50 AM
Seems like a tremendous amount of potential liability in the works.


LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

Two natural gas companies agreed Friday to temporarily cease operations of injection wells in an area of central Arkansas that has seen more than 800 earthquakes during the past six months.

Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy and Clarita Operating of Little Rock said they would comply with the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission's emergency request to stop all injection activities in Greenbrier- and Guy-area wells used to dispose of wastewater from production. The panel's next regular meeting is March 29.

Geologists are studying a swarm of recent area quakes, most tiny, in an attempt to determine whether there is a connection between the seismic activity and gas-drilling companies' work in the Fayetteville Shale formation. A 4.7-magnitude earthquake, the most powerful reported in the state in 35 years, struck near Greenbrier on Sunday night.

A six-month moratorium on new injection wells in the area took effect in January to allow time to determine what relationship, if any, there is between the wells and the earthquakes.

Shane Khoury, deputy director and general counsel for the commission, said Arkansas Geological Survey researchers had found enough evidence to request an immediate shutdown of the two well locations. He added that the emergency order would not affect the five other injection wells currently operating in that region.

"We believe preliminary data from the moratorium study shows a potential connection between injection operations and earthquakes at one or both of those wells," he said.




http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9LONFMG0.htm