Top 10 injection well operators in Texas
Most companies are trying to get oil and natural gas out of the ground. Others make money by injecting wastewater or carbon dioxide into geological formations thousands of feet below the surface.
Last week’s edition of “Drilling Down” featured the top 10 companies trying to extract oil and natural gas. This week, we’re focusing on those filing for injection permits, which give a company permission to inject water and gases underground for either disposal purposes or to boost oil and natural gas production in a process known as enhanced oil recovery.
Some 200 companies filed for 741 injection permits with the Railroad Commission in 2019. That’s slightly down from the 210 companies that filed for 800 permits in 2018.
The Permian Basin of West Texas accounted for nearly 89 percent of the injection well permits filed during 2019. Saltwater disposal well projects accounted for more than half of the permits.
Houston exploration and production company Occidental Petroleum led the pack with 81 permits filed by four subsidiaries. Known as Oxy, the company’s oil field wastewater disposal arm filed for 18 permits to develop vertical wells that would serve as saltwater disposal sites in Loving and Reeves counties.
The remaining 63 permits appeared to be for projects to inject carbon dioxide underground to boost the productivity of the company’s oil and natural gas wells in the region. In addition to buying carbon dioxide from third party sources, Oxy is experimenting with technology to pull carbon dioxide directly from the air, store it and then inject it underground to stimulate oil wells.
Permian Basin
Houston oil field wastewater disposal company Solaris Water Midstream ranked second statewide with 36 injection well permits, all filed in the Permian, while rival Mesquite SWD ranked third, filing for 35, again all in the Permian. Houston pipeline operator Kinder Morgan filed 35 permits to inject carbon dioxide underground and stimulate oil wells in the West Texas play.
Eagle Ford Shale
Houston exploration and production company Treadstone Energy Partners was the top injection well permit filer in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas with five permits for saltwater disposal wells. Houston oil field water management company EVX Midstream ranked in second with three injection well permits for saltwater disposal wells.
Haynesville Shale
Houston oil and natural gas company Rockcliff Energy was the top injection well permit filer in the Haynesville Shale of East Texas. The company filed permits for saltwater disposal wells in Harrison and Panola counties.
Barnett Shale
Only five injection well permits were filed in the Barnett Shale of North Texas. Irving-based Silver Creek Oil & Gas was seeking to develop a saltwater disposal well in Cooke County; the remaining four were for enhanced oil recovery.
Conventionals
Forty-one injection well permits were filed outside of the state’s four shale plays. Four companies each filed five permits. Overton Park Oil & Gas of Fort Worth and Hilcorp Energy and Frostwood Energy, both of Houston, were seeking to inject carbon dioxide or other gases underground to stimulate oil wells. Dallas-based Atmos Energy sought to develop four saltwater disposal wells.