New Mexico Reaches Pollution Agreement with Texas Well Operator

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A financially challenged  Midland, Texas well operator has reached a $19,000 settlement with the state of New Mexico over salt water spills at its injection sites and oil wells.

Siana Operating agreed to do cleanup in the agreement with the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division in Santa Fe and also pay a penalty of $19,000 over the course of a year. The spills happened at two wells outside the town of Eunice in the southeastern corner of New Mexico.

Until the terms of the deal are met, Siana won’t be allow to resume operations. But the company will still have to deal with a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico Land Office. The suit accuses Siana of spilling waste at a well site on state trust lands where it had stopped making lease payments several years ago.

Siana injected more than 13 million gallons in 2014 into two of its wastewater wells.

The lawsuit contends it is owed $284,000 in fees and only collected $10,000 from a bond posted in 2012 by Siana to guarantee lease payments.

Those terms may help keep Siana solvent, as it attempts to satisfy creditors including a Texas-based bank,  according to the Midland-Reporter Telegram.

The paper said Frost Bank filed a lawsuit against Siana and affiliate Siana Oil and Gas to ensure recovery of $13 million in debts after the company defaulted on loan payments.