The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is releasing more information about the fracking that’s being blamed for small earthquakes around Yukon.
Citizen Energy, an exploration company based in Tulsa cut back the volume as much as 50 percent on several stages of the hydraulic fracturing process.
Matt Skinner, a spokesman with the Corporation Commission told News 9’s Dana Hertneky the action follows OCC guidelines implemented in the past year. Under the rules, energy companies are asked to either reduce operations or stop them entirely if earthquakes are at least a 2.5 magnitude or greater.
“Most of the time it’s not quite instantaneous, but it’s a very short period of time. Unlike what we’ve seen so many times with earthquakes caused by disposal wells when you’re talking about a decline over a long period of time,” Skinner said.
Skinner says earthquakes caused by fracking are also usually smaller and less than four percent of fracking operations cause earthquakes. The Yukon earthquakes have all been below a 3.0 magnitude.
Citizen Energy, a privately-funded company, carries out horizontal drilling in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.
It recently won approval for a conditional use permit to drill wells near SW 59 and Frisco Road between Yukon and Mustang. At the time, the city council of Mustang complained that it could not deny the energy firm’s request to drill two wells in the city limits.
