Disposal Wells

Disposal wells are getting to be everywhere in eastern Ohio. We have seen videos/maps/spreadsheets/informative drawings,etc. on horizontal wells, but very little info on injection wells. I think I read somewhere where Ohio has 180 some of em and 36 or so more permitted. So I've asked questions to some people I know who work in the Oil&Gas industry,but they couldn't answer em. I think Eastern Ohio citizens need to know more, from the landowners to the tree huggers. So just what is the stuff going down there? Where does it go? I talked to some guys that haul waste water to them and they said it's a 9000ft. hole that they inject the wastewater in and it never seems to fill up. truck after truck rolls in and it doesn't ever come to the top.What is going on down there at 8000/9000 ft? How big is the pipe? Is it perforated,or do the fluids just go out of the bottom of the pipe? Why don't other states allow it? How much does the landowner make on one of these? With the amount of trucks coming and going.Do they have to post bonds and be responsible to fix the roads? It isn't just during drilling and fracking wells that the wastewater is produced,but long after the wells have been completed,there is more of it coming up. So there's gonna be a need for many more disposal wells. Will the ones in operation now ever be used up, or shut in, or are they there for as long as wastewater needs a hole to go into?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Martinelli on April 9, 2015 at 2:01am

....and how do they know the fluids pumped in are not crossing property boundaries?

Permalink Reply by Brian Powers on April 9, 2015 at 9:42am

bo bob-

You've asked a lot of questions; I'll try to offer some insight based on my O&G experience. The geology in Eastern OH/Western PA is sedimentary (think of a layer cake). Between the shallow, fresh water aquifer, and the deeper shale zones, there are many porous and permeable formations, mostly sandstone, but maybe also  carbonate (limestone). Porosity and permeability are desirable attributes for disposal zones

It costs money to inject fluid into a well by pumping- O&G operators prefer to gravity feed liquids into a disposal well; the vertical length of the fluid column in the wellbore exerts hydrostatic pressure at depth that forces the fluid away from the casing/liner at depth. So long as the fluid dissipates and the perforations do not scale over or otherwise plug off, the well will not fill up or hold a standing fluid level.

As you indicate, it is not just drilling and completion fluid waste that is disposed; fluid that is produced by the well during the course of production or that is generated by on-pad oil treatment may also be disposed in this manner.

I'm guessing that an 8,000 or 9,000 ft. well would have 4-1/2", 5-1/2" up to 7" diameter liner or casing that would be perforated with from four to twelve shots per foot of holes. In unusual conditions, disposal may occur just out of the bottom of the pipe, but I've not seen one of these wells.

Many other states allow disposal wells- I've personally worked on them in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas; I cannot recall the arrangements made with the landowner. These states have specific regulations and monitoring required to ensure fluid containment within the target disposal zone and no cross-contamination with other zones. Most of the disposal wells that I've personally worked on were lined or cased with carbon steel pipe- disposal fluids are often

Disposal wells get sick like any other well and occasionally have to be repaired by cleaning out accumulated fill, re-perforating the liner/casing or acidizing to remove scale, or in extreme cases, pumping fluid without proppant to fracture to  reinitiate injection. If they cannot be economically repaired, they are plugged and abandoned just as producing wells would be.

I hope that my brief comments have assisted in your understanding - please ask any follow-up questions that you may have.

Brian

Permalink Reply by bo boboski on April 9, 2015 at 9:52am

THX. I'd still like to know what a landowner will make off one of these bad boys.Also would like to see a video or an artist;s rendering of the wellbore and different formations. There's probably some online somewhere.

Permalink Reply by Shon Lenzo on April 10, 2015 at 4:25am
Permalink Reply by Shon Lenzo on April 10, 2015 at 4:38am

if you are similar to me, and like pictures better than words......

http://water.epa.gov/type/groundwater/uic/wells_drawings.cfm

Permalink Reply by Philip Brutz on April 10, 2015 at 4:27am

This was in the CHK lease that they wanted me to sign:

The right to drill injection wells to dispose of "brine, completion and production fluids, waste water and any hydrocarbon related substances from any source, including, but not limited to wells on the Leasehold or lands pooled or unitized therewith or from properties and lands outside the Leasehold or pooled or unitized therewith, and to conduct all operations as may be required, for so long as necessary and required by Lessee for purposes as herein provided."

All for the sum of $1000 per year total, not per acre per year.

Many landowners signed these leases.  I don't think that they have any shortage of injection well sites.

Permalink Reply by Shon Lenzo on April 10, 2015 at 4:31am

 don't sign that. if you haven't already....

Permalink Reply by Finnbear on April 13, 2015 at 4:13am

You get paid by the barrel for what comes out of a well. Brine production from producing wells is reported to .gov in barrels. I'd want to be paid by the barrel for what goes back in - think tipping fees at a landfill.  More usage = more trucks in and out at all hours of the day and night. I wouldn't deal with that for $1000/year.

Permalink Reply by Rick Butler on April 15, 2015 at 5:40am

I have 2 questions. 

1.  Why should we be taking all these chemicals from other

states?  Seems PA is large enough to deal with their own toxins.

2.  Why aren't our legislators protecting our interest?

I know someone who was offered $100,000 to put one in.  He told them to leave his property.

Permalink Reply by Tim Tarr on April 15, 2015 at 8:16pm

Rick,

  I'm in Pa but I'll try to answer.

1. I don't recall the term but Ohio has an exemption that lets the State handle (issue permits) those disposal wells without any Federal over-site. I think it was something Ohio wanted for coal and oil some time ago. 

2. That is true in most states but especially true with the Federal Government. 

Permalink Reply by Glenn Pickett on April 21, 2015 at 5:09pm

I am Glenn, I reside in DeSoto Parish (County) in Louisiana.  The Police Jury (Governing Body for such matters) allows disposal wells in this Parish.  I know of two that were approved a couple of years ago, have not heard of any such then, but I feel sure others have been approved since then.  I do not think there is any oversight by any other governing body.  I know there were protests by some that did not want to see these approved.   I do not remember any figures now, but I think the payout was based on gallons, and a normal load of fluids would pay a very,very handsome sum, best I remember it would be several thousands of dollars per load, and I have no idea how much the wells here would hold, and there was an estimated useful life for one, but the payout would be over two hundred thousand dollars per year for just one of those wells.  It was enough that I would dearly love to have one or two on my property.   I wish I had saved the figures for all that, but knew I would not ever have one.  I also was told by a Geologist friend that some of the abandoned gas wells were used by some companies, and they also paid the landowner for using those as disposal wells.  There is very little drilling here in the Haynesville now, but when it was busy the drillers were also buying water for fracking from landowners with ponds large enough to meet their needs for one or more wells, they were paying around 25  cents per gallon, I heard one owner got 35 cents per gallon, but I heard he was also in a remote area and there were no other options for the driller without laying pipe for several miles.  I do not know where that was, because you don't have to walk very far without finding water in Louisiana.   A lot of expensive lessons have been learned down here, so just watch your step and don't let them cheat you out of ANYTHING.  Most of what you will get will be in the short term, theirs is for the long term.  I might add that Chesapeake is the company around here that is our favorite one to hate the most. 

Permalink Reply by Clifford Ginn on April 28, 2015 at 1:37am
We can solve this Poseidon salt water systems
Cliffordginn@yahoo.com

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