Recent new fracking regulations enforced by Texas regulators to help end earthquakes in the Permian Basin have sent wastewater disposal prices upward for some of the big companies.
Firms such as Coterra Energy and ConocoPhillips are forced to truck their wastewater to disposal wells, increasing their costs in the prolific basin.
The fracking frags caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal.
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Frackers in America’s hottest oil field are facing an expensive new setback: earthquakes.
Shale companies in West Texas will have to pay more to move millions of barrels of wastewater that surfaces from oil wells and can aggravate tectonic fault lines when deposited underground. A recent spate of earthquakes prompted state regulators to stop companies from pumping as much water underground, forcing some drillers to move water farther afield.
Most of the earthquakes have been relatively mild so far and have caused limited property damage. The rising number of earthquakes has led the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil industry, to shut or sharply reduce the capacity of scores of so-called disposal wells to protect nearby communities.
The wells are used by large oil companies including Chevron Corp. CVX 1.70% , ConocoPhillips COP 3.73% and Coterra Energy Inc. CTRA 1.65% to inject wastewater into geologic formations. The limitations have left Permian Basin drillers to find other ways to transport wastewater, including high-cost trucking.
