American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2017 - 18

Oklahoma Revises Limit
On Wastewater Disposal
Into Arbuckle Formation
OKLAHOMA CITY-The Oklahoma
Corporation Commission has adjusted
its injection limits for wastewater
disposal wells, saying it is changing its
focus to limit future volumes.
OCC's Oil and Gas Conservation
Division (OGCD) issued a directive to
well operators covering injection wells
into the Arbuckle Formation within the
state's earthquake areas of interest
(AOI)-those 21 counties designated by
the OCC as needing additional regulatory
oversight to minimize seismic events.
OGCD says the action is aimed at
limiting future increases of disposed
volumes into the Arbuckle within the AOI,
while allowing operators with multiple
Arbuckle disposal wells within the AOI
more water management flexibility.
"The continued drop in earthquakes,
as well as new data and input from the
Oklahoma Geological Survey, have
caused a change in our orientation from
focusing on current disposal volumes
within the AOI to looking ahead to try to
ensure there isn't a sudden, surprise
jump in these disposal volumes," says
OGCD Director Tim Baker. "This
directive includes not only those
Arbuckle disposal wells within the AOI
already restricted in volume, but also the
few potentially high-volume disposal
wells that previously were not under a
volume reduction directive because there
has been no seismicity in their area."
Baker says the directive, which covers
654 Arbuckle disposal wells in the AOI,
will not reduce current volumes but keep
future volume increases in check.
Several of those wells in the AOI could

add more than 2 million barrels a day
into the formation without the directive,
he warns, adding those wells operate at a
fraction of their permitted volumes. A
new cap will be based on the last 30-day
average of their disposal volumes.
"Other wells already are operating
under a reduction directive with volumes
that are lower than even those allowed,"
Baker says. "We don't want to see them
jump drastically in one day, even if they
are within their directive limits. So, they
will have a cap to limit how much they
can increase volume at once."
Baker adds the directive allows
operators more flexibility in handling
their wastewater, with operators given a
30-day allowance for disposal volumes.
Operators will be allowed, on a limited
basis, to increase volumes in certain
wells, and, if necessary, offset that with
lower volumes in other disposal wells. He
says an operator is not allowed to exceed
the total disposal limit for all his wells.
The directive is available at
www.occeweb.com under "Hot Topics."
❒

State Department Backs
Enbridge Border Permit
WASHINGTON-Increasing the
transportation capacity of an oil pipeline
crossing the U.S.-Canadian border will
not have significant negative
environmental impacts, the U.S. State
Department assesses. The ruling on the
draft environmental impact statement is
part of Enbridge Energy Partners' plans
for its Line 67 pipeline, formerly called
the Alberta Clipper project.
Enbridge is seeking a presidential
permit to authorize a capacity increase
in the pipeline's border segment from

State Senator Mike
Ross, left, and Ike Morris pose with the 2017
Gunslinger Awards,
the highest honor presented by the Independent Oil and Gas
Association of West
Virginia. The association honored the two
at its winter meeting,
held Feb. 14-15 in
Charleston, W.V. Ross,
owner of Mike Ross
Inc. and Ross & Wharton Gas Co., represented the 15th District in
the West Virginia Senate for 12 years. After
stepping down, he was appointed in 2009 to ﬁll a vacant seat in the House of Delegates.
Morris is president of Waco Oil and Gas in Glenville, W.V. The Gunslinger Award, begun in
1993, recognizes individuals who have made unique contributions to the well being of the
state's natural gas and oil industry. IOGAWV meeting coverage begins page 131.

18 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

500,000 barrels a day for heavy crude
oil and other liquid hydrocarbons to
890,000 bbl/d, the State Department
says. To support that expansion,
Enbridge has installed or upgraded
facilities at seven pump stations and
added storage tanks at its terminal in
Superior, Wi., the department notes.
According to the draft EIS, Enbridge
interconnected Line 67 with Line 3,
another company-owned pipeline lying
in the same right-of-way, outside of the
border segment on both sides of the
border. Those interconnects allow
Enbridge to use the increased pumping
capacity throughout most of Line 67,
while not increasing oil flow through
the border segment, which is covered by
the current Line 67 presidential permit.
The pipeline runs from Canada,
enters the United States in North
Dakota, and runs across Minnesota
before ending in Superior.
The State Department issued a
presidential permit allowing Enbridge to
construct and operate Line 67 in August
2009, the draft SEIS says. The company
applied to expand the capacity of the
border segment in November 2012, and
amended that application in June 2014
to reflect the since-completed
interconnections.
The public comment period for the
draft EIS ended March 27. The State
Department held its only public meeting
on the permit application in Bemidji,
Mn., in early March. It points out the
SEIS does not approve or deny the permit
application, but rather assesses potential
environmental impacts that could result if
the permit was approved. ❒

Gas Storage Levels
Decrease By 314 Bcf
WASHINGTON-Underground
natural gas storage in the United States
stood at 2.049 trillion cubic feet on
March 24, 13.9 percent above the five
year average, according to the U.S.
Energy Information Administration. That
was down 314 billion cubic feet from the
2.363 Tcf in storage on Feb. 24, which
was 14.3 percent above the five-year
average. The March 24 storage number
was 423 Bcf less than a year ago, when
gas storage stood at 2.472 Tcf.
According to EIA, gas storage in the
East Region was 278 Bcf on March 24,
18.7 percent below the five-year
average and 144 Bcf less than on Feb.
24, when storage stood at 422 Bcf,
which was 2.8 percent below the fiveyear average. East Region gas storage
http://www.occeweb.com
American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2017

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