Midland Earthquakes: EOR ETC Provides Alternative to Deep Well Disposal

There’s been an increase in earthquakes in West Texas in the past year. A likely cause of these earthquakes is the increasing number of water disposal wells. This looks similar to what happened 10 years ago in Oklahoma. A widely cited study (McGarr UGS 2014, Section 6.2 Prague Oklahoma) resulted in state regulators requiring operators to reduce the rate and pressure of the injections in the disposal wells. Once operators began to comply, the frequency at which earthquakes happened dramatically reduced. 

EOR ETC has a patented, low cost technology for using waste water for EOR as an alternative to deep well disposal. This is a low-pressure, co-injection process that combines gas with surfactant treated produced water; stimulating imbibition of water into the matrix rock. While surface pressure is low, this technique is able to generate bottom hole pressures near the original hydrostatic gradient using the patent-pending Rapid Switched Stacked Slug (RSSS) technique.

Over multiple Huff & Puff cycles, rotated around wells on a pad, hundreds of thousands of barrels of water are re-injected over a year as produced volumes are replaced in depleted wells and EOR benefits are captured. 

EOR ETC technology can be applied to myriad challenges within our industry. Let’s talk about how we can help you prepare for the future. Email me at brian@eoretc.com.