American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016 - 16

IndustryDigest
Syndrome zone."
"IPAA and its member companies
view this plan as a workable
compromise and we thank USFWS for
taking our industry's concerns into
consideration," Naatz says. ❒

Pavillion Fracturing Not
Affecting Groundwater,
Wyoming DEP Reports
CHEYENNE, WY.-Hydraulic
fracturing operations in Wyoming's
Pavillion gas field are not affecting
groundwater resources in adjacent water
wells, the Wyoming Department of
Environmental Quality concludes in its
draft final report.
According to the state analysis, it is
unlikely that fracture fluids injected into
the deeper production zones would have
risen to the depths used by water supply
wells, and also unlikely the fracture
treatments led to fluids interacting with
shallow groundwater reservoirs
supplying the water wells.
The WDEQ report refutes the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's
December 2011 finding that linked
groundwater contamination to
fracturing operations. After analyzing
the field following residents' complaints
of taste and odor in well water, EPA
concluded groundwater in the aquifer
below Pavillion contained compounds
likely associated with gas production
practices (AOGR, January 2012, pg.
40).
Wyoming officials announced in
June 2013 they would conduct their
own investigation of 14 Pavillion-area
water wells. They said the effort would
include analyzing historical data and
conducting two rounds of water
sampling.
The study says upward gas seepage
was happening naturally in the
Pavillion area before gas well
development began, and
noncommercial quantities of gas were
present in zones as shallow as 500 feet
below the surface. Hydraulic fracturing
intervals in the gas field typically start
below 1,500 feet, but have been
reported as shallow as 1,060 feet. The
shallowest fracturing activity was 1,397
feet below the surface within 1,420 feet
of the 14 water-supply wells analyzed,
the study says. ❒
16 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

California Proposes
Interim Safety Rules
For Gas Storage Fields
SACRAMENTO, CA.-The
California Division of Oil, Gas and
Geothermal Resources released an
interim package of rules for natural gas
storage facilities in January. The
California Independent Petroleum
Association says the six emergency
safety and reliability regulations came a
week after Governor Jerry Brown
declared a state of emergency on Jan. 6
in the ongoing Southern California
natural gas leak at Aliso Canyon in
Orange County.
CIPA explains that an injection well
at SoCalGas' Aliso Canyon
Underground Storage Facility began
leaking gas in October as a result of a
mechanical failure.
The six emergency measures
announced by DOGGR:
* Require at least a daily inspection
of gas storage wellheads, using leak detection technology such as infrared imaging;
* Require ongoing verification of
all gas storage wells' mechanical integrity;
* Require ongoing measurements of
annular gas pressure or flow within
wells;
* Require regular testing of all safety valves;
* Establish minimum and maximum pressure limits for each gas storage facility in the state; and
* Require each storage facility to
establish a comprehensive risk management plan that evaluates and prepares
for risks, including the corrosion potential of pipes and equipment.
CIPA says the emergency regulations
were to go to the Office of
Administrative Law on Jan. 26, which
was to post them online. "If OAL
approves the rule-making package, the
interim rules (were to be) in place at the
end of a 10-day review," CIPA details.
In addition, the association notes, the
governor ordered DOGGR, the
California Public Utilities Commission,
California Air Resources Board, and
California Energy Commission to
submit a report assessing the long-term
viability of natural gas storage facilities
in the state.
"CIPA has been actively following

this issue and has been updating
legislators on the unique nature of
natural gas storage facilities and how
they are different than oil field
production," the association states,
adding that it would comment on the
proposed regulations "as necessary to
ensure they are limited to natural gas
storage and not production facilities."
CIPA also has posted a fact sheet on
its website to inform the public about
natural gas storage, how it differs from
natural gas production, and how natural
gas production and handling differ from
that of crude oil. ❒

Oklahoma Homeowners
File Suit For Damages
Caused By Earthquakes
OKLAHOMA CITY-A group of
Oklahoma City and Edmond, Ok.,
homeowners have filed a lawsuit against
12 oil and gas companies, seeking
compensation for damages caused by
earthquakes the plaintiffs contend were
caused by nearby injection wells.
G. Terry Felts, et al v. Devon Energy
Production Company LP, et al, filed
Jan. 11 in Oklahoma County District
Court by 12 property owners, names as
defendants Devon Energy Production
Co. LP, Sundance Energy Oklahoma
LLC, Grayhorse Operating Inc.,
Pedestal Oil Company Inc., New
Dominion LLC, R.C. Taylor Operating
Company LLC, TNT Operating
Company, White Operating Company,
Rainbo Service Company, Marjo
Operating Mid-Continent LLC, Special
Energy Corporation, and Northport
Production Company.
The plaintiffs' petition claims that oil
field waste injected by the defendants
prior to Dec. 29 in disposal wells
located in Logan and Oklahoma
counties "with reckless disregard for the
consequences to others . . . under
conditions that defendants knew or
should have known would result in an
increased likelihood that earthquakes or
other adverse environmental impacts
would occur," resulted in a magnitude
4.3 earthquake on Dec. 29 and a
magnitude 4.2 earthquake on Jan. 1.
The plaintiffs' petition adds, "The
use of disposal wells by defendants
created conditions which, among other
things, are the proximate cause of
unnatural and unprecedented

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016