4 ms·

so to summarize... it's the oil companies with bad drilling practices yet again (and not fracking)? injecting wastewater and causing pressure imbalances?

• exabrial 2y ago
  Yes... very close: It's bad production practices, not drilling practices. After the well is 'completed', you move onto 'production'. The practice of using old wells as salt water injection points for production wells is practice that is relatively unscrutinized. Since said old wells are often miles away, often drilled into different formations, this causes problems ranging from earthquakes to repressurizing depleted formations (which I'm betting is what is bursting the half-arsed well caps). Worse off, the salt water thats reinjected deep into the earth can take decades to migrate, leading to earthquakes 20+ years later. The saving grace about this practice is that is truly is below impermeable rock layers (yes even fracked formations), so it's unlikely to ever reach the surface, except in the case where other mistakes were made.