Hydraulic Fracturing and Earthquakes

Fracking causes earthquakes

Induced seismicity, or earthquakes caused by human activities, can be caused by development of hydrocarbon, mineral, and geothermal resources, waste injection, water filling large surface reservoirs, underground nuclear explosions and large-scale construction projects.[1]

Scientists have documented direct connections between earthquakes and both oil and gas extraction and waste-water injection.

Moreover, several studies demonstrate that hydraulic fracturing induces microearthquakes and that the analysis of these microearthquakes can be useful in understanding fracture zones and reservoir production rates.[2]

Recently, earthquakes have occurred more frequently in areas experiencing increased hydraulic fracturing.

Concerns of fracking-impacted communities

Oil and gas-field communities in Colorado, Texas and elsewhere are increasingly concerned about the role that hydraulic fracturing plays in induced seismicity in their communities. Concerns include:

• immediate safety threats;
• environmental and property damage;
• how best to plan for oil and gas infrastructure (such as pipelines, processing plants, compressor stations and wells) in areas that may see increased seismic activity of a broad magnitude.

Most oil and gas-field infrastructure do not have specific earthquake design standards. In most cases operators must take practicable steps to ensure interstate pipeline infrastructure (e.g. large transportation pipelines) can withstand anticipated hazards.

Earthquakes and pipelines

In the case of transportation pipelines: materials for pipe and components must be able to maintain the structural integrity of the pipeline under temperature and other environmental conditions that may be anticipated; pipe must be designed with sufficient wall thickness, or must be installed with adequate protection, to withstand anticipated external pressures and loads that will be imposed on the pipe after installation; and the operator must take all practicable steps to protect each transmission line or main from washouts, floods, unstable soil, landslides, or other hazards that may cause the pipeline to move or to sustain abnormal loads.[3]

Little attention has been paid to the potential impacts to other exploration and production infrastructure from earthquakes or microearthquakes.

For More Information

News

• Boom Town: is natural gas making the earth quake in North Texas, by Staci Semrad in the Texas Observer. 9/4/09
• Wastewater Disposal Well May Have Caused Texas Earthquakes, by Ben Casselman in the Wall Street Journal. 8/13/09.
• Quake Fears Stall Energy Extraction Project, by James Glanz in the New York Times. 7/13/2009.
• Earthquakes in Texas get the attention of Louisiana agency, by Jen DeGregorio, in The Times-Picayune. 7/5/2009.
• Quillen: Watching out for fracking, an oped by Ed Quillen in the Denver Post. 6/16/2009
• Deep in Bedrock, Clean Energy and Quake Fears, by James Glanz in the New York Times. About concerns associated with AltaRock Energy's geothermal project in Northern California.6/23/09
• New earth tremor felt near Cleburne, by Domingo Ramirez Jr. in the Star Telgram. 6/8/09.
• Another minor quake shakes Cleburne, by Eva-Marie Ayala in the Star Telegram. 6/27/09
• Mud eruption 'caused by drilling', by James Morgan from BBC News. 11/1/08.

Resources

• Learn if humans can cause earthquakes from the USGS.
• National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program
• Read a letter from Doing It Right Las Animas to the Colorado Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey about their concerns of induced seismicity related to oil and gas development.
• Pipeline Safety Trust promotes awareness about pipeline and fuel transportation safety issues through education and advocacy.

Publications

• Read Seismicity in the Oilfield, from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
• Read about pipeline survivability in post-quake devastation.
• Watch geologist Jack Century's presentation on human induced seismicity and the oil and gas industry

1. Vitaly V. Adushkin, Vladimir N. Rodionov, Sergey Turuntaev, and Alexander E. Yudin 2000. Seismicity in the Oilfield.(PDF)
2. Li,Ying-Ping 1996.Microearthquake analysis for hydraulic fracture process.in Acta Seismologica Sinica, Vol 9 No 3, p 377-387.(Outline); and W. S. Phillips, T. D. Fairbanks, J. T. Rutledge, and D. W. Anderson 1998. Induced microearthquake patterns and oil-producing fracture systems in the Austin chalk. in Tectonphysics, Vol 289, p 153-169. (Abstract)
3. CRF Title 49 Subpart B PART 192.53, Subpart C PART 192.03, Subpart G PART 192.317.