Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ron D. Jockefeller on August 31, 2012 at 2:14pm

You need disposal wells because they are the safest, cleanest and cheapest way to dispose of produced water.

You might as well ban airplanes because they might fall out of the sky onto your house.

And your assertion that disposal wells mean surrounding ground cannot "be produced of oil and gas" is factually incorrect.  Waterflooding is a secondary technique that improves oil and gas production.

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Permalink Reply by Don C on August 31, 2012 at 2:25pm

You still havent answered any of the questions.    This site is to teach.  Are you quilified?

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Permalink Reply by lynn on September 1, 2012 at 10:27am

Thank you-there is so much misinformation out there people need to be told the truth.  My add on is that the well in Yo was the only one with a problem out of 190+ in the state of ohio.  Obeying the rules makes for safe use of injection wells.  

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Permalink Reply by patrick on September 1, 2012 at 9:14am

They do try to recycle the water about three times from my understanding. Still that adds to the cost .  We've had disposal wells  in Ohio for a long time and except for operator mismanagement on a well near Youngstown they've had an excellent safety record.

Secondly the EP:A is trying to shut down the shale activety thru all kinds of new regulations and Gestopo actions

such as they tried on Range Resources in Texas.

We need to defend this industry at by all means. 

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Permalink Reply by lynn on September 1, 2012 at 10:32am

Absolutely right.  Even us old fogeys could see energy independence become a reality in our lifetimes if we get the right people in washington.  The federal epa is already sitting on new fracing rules-they're just waiting to see who has the reins in January.  Gas and oil exploration on private lands could come to a halt thanks to the epa-I forsee it taking years instead of months to get drilling permits if the federal gov't is involved.

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen on September 1, 2012 at 1:24pm

Ohio wasn't the only one with this issue, Arkansas panicked rightly at first until they found out the truth when they started having minor earthquakes which got everyone upset about the NG horizontal drilling. Like them we grouped disposal wells with horizontal wells and there are some people no matter how hard I try to convince them it's different are stuck. I do wish people take some time looking into how many are in our state already with no issues and learn the differences.
Now with that said I personally do not want to see one around here, they have a lot of truck noise, holding tanks, etc.. I see people post they are looking for rural areas close to roads for these but I would hope they would be placed closer to industrial sites since IMO that's where they need to be. Most industrial sites are near major highways and decent roads already. When it comes to this subject I'm one of those "not in my backyard" and wish the State would step in on this and say where they can go and can not go.
My township is not zoned so it could very well be in my backyard border.

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen on September 1, 2012 at 2:20pm

I have to agree looking at that from a business stand point, but how do we get this tightly controlled? The State should be on this now since as we all know nothing moves slower than the government on many issues unless they think you owe them a dollar :0).
I would hate to see a well drilled than converted to an injection well placed as an example: Where 518, Gavers rd and trinity church meet. That area is post card worthy and right on good roads leading to major rds. There are many areas like that around here that will see oil and gas drilling.. Again I guess it goes back to what lease was signed until the government gets moving on this.
I think people are fearing these for the wrong reasons while others who think there's little to no problem having them around also aren't seeing all the other issues that come with them. It's a similar situation with garbage and I have to say after living in New Jersey and visiting Staten Island, Ohio got the garbage issue right, they just need to move on this. I was floored how nice Ohios landfills looked when I moved here after the Fresh Kill site was burned into my brain. :0)

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Permalink Reply by Don C on September 2, 2012 at 1:42am

Thanks for all of your replys.

 

I am little confused on the injection well that may have been causing minor quakes in Mahoning county.  My information came from media releases and maybe I missed it, but I dont understand how operator error was the cause.  I understood it to be disposal  of fracing fluids at or near a fault. How is that operator error?   

I am well aware that eastern Ohio has been a dumping grounds for eastern states for years and I am aware of the ODNR site locations for disposal wells but the Mahoning County quake is pretty much self explanatory what was causing it.    

  

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Permalink Reply by Don C on September 2, 2012 at 1:31am

Ron D.

 

What is waterflooding?      

 

I spoke to a person that was offered an injection well on his 30 acre property however he declined because he was told that with a 1/2 radius could not be produced o/g.  He was offered a substancial amount of cash but turned it down because he did not want to upset his neighbors if they could not get royalties due to the 1/2 radius.  He was also worried about additional truck traffic that would go on for years.

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Permalink Reply by patrick on September 2, 2012 at 2:14am

My understanding from a friend in the oil well bussiness is that the operator was injecting fluid  of  both quanity and pressure in excess of his permit. ODNR, the  govenors office and the state legislators ot right on the problem to solve it. But in reality if someone is going to break the law no regulation is going to stop them, just ask the people that dealt with  Bernie Madoff and or the folks at MFGlobal.

As far as flooding a field my understanding is that you can't inject disposal fluids into a producing formation that would impare an existing well. What can be done in some old fields is adding  fluids into a well area in order to increase the flow of oil and gas into a well   making tjhem more productive.

I would bet that if someone injected water into a formation that impared an existing well lawyyers would soon be there  to protect the rights of the injured party

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Permalink Reply by Area Man on September 4, 2012 at 2:07am

One point, the shale formations that are the targets for oil and gas development are not good for disposal.

The whole point of hydraulically fracturing a rock is to allow hydrocarbons trapped in an ~impermeable rock to migrate to the wellbore.  If you are trying to dispose of fluid, and a lot of it at that, you need a formation that has higher porosity where the fluids can efficiently pass in to the formation.

Usually, an old sandstone reservoir that has been depleted, something of that nature.

 

Cheers,

-AreaMan

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen on September 2, 2012 at 3:32am

I by no means am endorsing injection wells, but months ago I read an interesting way to look at these minor earthquakes near injection wells. These are happening where injection wells are near known faults or unknown faults, so in time (when who knows) they will move. Now did these wells lubricate these faults to move earlier which released pressure already building which could have caused a major earthquake one day later in time causing massive damage? This is just a theory but an interesting theory.
Just for reference in this thread here is the ODNR's Summery of the Youngstown earthquakes dated march 2012.
http://ohiodnr.com/downloads/northstar/UICExecSummary.pdf

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