Weekend quake shuts down driller

QUINTON—A magnitude -3.7 earthquake popped off early Sunday near Quinton in Pittsburg County amid a swarm of quakes there the past several days.

A natural gas drilling operator was directed to shut down indefinitely by state regulators Sunday morning, but an industry insider doesn't expect the 10 quakes in 10 days to be the start of an upward seismic trend there.

Oklahoma Corporation Commission spokesman Matt Skinner said the agency is investigating the seismicity as possibly related to hydraulic fracturing or well completion operations.

Those types of induced quakes are typically smaller and less numerous than the disposal well-related ones that have plagued central and northwestern parts of the state.

Skinner noted the operator was on a 12-hour pause because of prior seismicity when the 3.7 quake hit, one of several actions taken before the event.

“They didn't just sit there and ride it out, they took actions,” Skinner said.

Pit ts burg County experienced five quake so fat least magnitude 2.5 in each of 2018 and 2017, according to Oklahoma Geological Survey data. There was only one such quake in 2016. There have been 13 in 2019, including 10 from Aug. 11-20.

Skinner said the Quinton swarm is the first time in the nearly three-year existence of the Corporation Commission's well completion protocol that it has been put into effect in that area.

“It's been a quiet area,” he said.

State seismologist Jake Walter said it's difficult for geological survey officials to speculate where future seismicity may occur or on oil-field practices. He said Quinton can expect several more quakes from the ongoing sequence in the coming weeks.

“We also have observed several clusters of activity across eastern Oklahoma associated with various (industrial) activities as well as natural earthquakes associated with structures in southeast Oklahoma ,” Walter said .“While the earthquakes are less frequent than other areas in the last decade, this part of Oklahoma is not seismically inactive.”

The Baker Hughes realtime rig count online Wednesday showed only one gas drilling rig near Quinton.

Chad Warming ton, president of the Petroleum Association of Oklahoma, said there are isolated operations in the area and not an upward trend. Warmington said it is an area of historic production with much dry natural gas, but market prices are at a 20-year low.

He said the fact that an operator is exploring in that area is good for Oklahoma, with the state down to about 95 drilling rigs from 140 or more at the start of 2019.

“It's tougher economic conditions,” Warmington said.

However, he did point to a hopeful indicator that overall production may not slip as much as drilling rigs with gains in efficiency.

Enc ana Corporation purchased New field Exploration Company in February and announced its goal was to maintain original production targets but use five fewer rigs to save about $1 million per well, Warmington said.

“I think that' s a really good story,” he said.