Water disposal wells have driven fracking boom, may also cause earthquakes

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-23/can-this-oklahoma-oilman-s-company-withstand-another-earthquake-

by forrest_t • 11 years ago

19 2 11 years ago

$Preview of Water disposal wells have driven fracking boom, may also cause earthquakes$ bloomberg.com

barney54• 11 years ago

This headline is not accurate. Waste water disposal wells are not "driving" the hydraulic fracturing boom. Disposal of waste water comes at the end of the process--it does not drive the process.

The boom in oil and natural gas production in places like North Dakota, Texas, and Pennsylvania did not take off because suddenly there were waste water injection wells but because of hydraulic fracturing, directional drilling and advanced underground imaging (high oil prices also really helped).

In Oklahoma, as the article states, these waste water injection wells have been very helpful for finding a place to dispose of produced water. But it isn't accurate to say that disposal wells are "driving" the boom.

Retric• 11 years ago

Without cheap disposal of large quantities of toxic sludge fracking is not economically viable. 60 years ago they could have simply dumped it into local streams but no longer fly's in the US. So, in the end banning injection wells effectively also banns fracking.

Or as the article says wastewater wells drive fracking take them away and they party stops.

Water disposal wells have driven fracking boom, may also cause earthquakes

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