Q: What does
Ohio’s newest cryo plant, unconventional wells, legacy wells & pipelines
have in common?
A: They were
all shaken by earthquakes on March 10, 2014.
Five earthquakes struck the region this past Monday and Tuesday with depths of up to of 5 kilometers or about 3.11 miles.
The epicenters were located outside of Youngstown, near the Ohio/Pennsylvania border, 2 of the earthquakes were only feet from two of Hilcorp Energy Corp unconventional Shale gas well pads. One was only 1200 feet away, another 2300’.
After this weeks quakes, Ohio Department of Natural Resources ( ODNR) ordered the operator to halt operations at the
nearby well sites.
The
earthquakes struck a little too close for
comfort as far as Maggie Henry is concerned. Maggie lives in the
historically drilled Bessemer Oil Field just over the border in North Beaver
Twp., Pennsylvania. Her water well’s
pump stopped working in 2012 four months after a series of earthquakes struck
the region in 2011. When the repairman came to fix the pump he discovered the
well casing was too crimped to pull the water pump up the casing and out of the
well to replace it.
“He
was 72 years old, and a fourth generation water well driller. He told me he
never seen anything like this before” said Maggie.
“How
did the well casing get bent, and if it was caused by the earthquakes, what do earthquakes
do to shale gas wells, pipelines, and the other ridged infrastructure?”
The
2011 Youngstown (4)
earthquakes struck
about 14 miles from Monday’s earthquakes.
Subsequently the 2011 earthquakes were been linked to the controversial
practice of injecting waste water into historic wells.
Scientists
have known for decades that fluid injection
can cause earthquakes
in areas that have not experienced earthquakes previously.
The
USGS, National Earthquake Information Center ( NEIC ) identifies the earthquake
locations.
· One
of the earthquake’s epicenters identified by USGS is also the location of a
plugged and abandoned historic oil well identified by the ODNR. It is situated in
a legacy oil field among over a dozen historic wells.
Most of the historic wells in the area were drilled to the Berea formation at a depth of around 900 feet but some wells were drilled much deeper to depths of over 3000 feet.
The
ODNR map identifies the locations of the Hilcorp wells,
the legacy well located at the epicenter of the earthquakes and the locations
of over a dozen other historic wells nearby.
Even
cement plugs that aren’t located at the epicenters of earthquakes shrink, crack
and leak over time, many only last around 20 years.
According
to the New Castle News , Paul Caruso,
a geophysicist for the National Earthquake Information Center of the U.S.
Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., said a magnitude 3 earthquake could cause
small cracks in buildings.
It's been business as usual since the quakes, work has resumed on the pipelines built to transport billions of cubic feet of natural
gas to Pennant Midstream’s Hickory Bend cryogenic gas- processing plant located in Ohio's earthquake zone.
The
cryo facility is located approximatly 3 ½ miles from one of earthquake's epicenters.
Have the earthquakes
put a dent in Pennant Midstream’s plans to pipe billions of cubic feet of natural
gas from all over the Shale gas region into the heart of Ohio’s newest earthquake
zone?
Earthquake map:
Google map, 2 of the earthquake and well site locations
identified: http://goo.gl/maps/VHlwN
Four earthquakes ripple through Valley Monday
Mar 10, 2014 2:48 PM EST Updated: Mar 11, 2014 9:51 AM
EST
The well site plat maps may be downloaded from the
ODNR website.:
Hickory Bend plant ready for business:
Pennant Midstream Announces Hickory Bend Cryogenic
Processing Plant Ready for Service January 06, 2014
Local news report with the locations of the
earthquakes : http://www.newsnet5.com/weather/weather-news/28-magnitude-earthquake-shakes-northeast-ohio-monday-morning-near-youngstown
