Earthquakes in Texas Oil Country Are On the Decline After Crackdown on Shale Drillers

(Bloomberg) -- The frequency of earthquakes in West Texas declined in 2023 for the first time in at least half a decade after regulators cracked down on the practice of burying toxic wastewater from oil drilling.

The Texas section of the Permian Basin oil field recorded 194 quakes last year, a 10% drop from 2022’s record high, according to the Texas Seismological Network. The figures didn’t account for seismic activity in the New Mexico area of the Permian. 

For decades, oil drillers have dealt with the huge quantities of wastewater that spew out of wells alongside crude by injecting it back into the ground. But as the shale sector expanded operations in the Permian region, so-called wastewater-injection sites multiplied, increasing stress along subterranean fault lines. 

Texas regulators took the rare step of asking drillers to restrict oilfield activities in late 2021 by limiting the amount of wastewater disposed of underground. 

The Texas Seismological Network’s data tracked temblors with a magnitude of at least 3. Despite the declining frequency, a near-record quake shook the region in the early hours of Nov. 8. Shale drillers have sought to boost wastewater recycling as well as inject it in more-isolated locations.

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