'It made a boom sound!': Small El Reno earthquakes linked to oil & gas wells
EL RENO, Okla. (KFOR) - The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) said researchers have linked several low-magnitude earthquakes in the El Reno area to fracking at oil and gas sites.
"It made a boom sound!" said Wanda Johnson, who lives near an oil site. "It shook my bed and my window shook."
Small earthquakes woke up El Reno residents near oil and gas sites south of town.
"I felt it a couple of days ago, I guess. But I slept through the last one," said resident Sarah Dean.
Others in town told News 4 they didn't feel a thing. However, on the town's unofficial Facebook group, El Reno Happenings, several members chimed in saying they felt a quake.
"Every once and awhile it'll shake the whole house. And I'm like, 'Woo! Anyone else feel that?' said resident Kyra Higgins.
Matt Skinner, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, said the OCC was first alerted to several small earthquakes at well sites by the El Reno airport on Friday.
"We have a magnitude 2.1, magnitude 1.3, magnitude 1.5," Matt Skinner said while reading the numbers on the map below. "Anything under a three would probably not be felt."
The next day, they reached to the Houston-based oil and gas company, Paloma. Monday, the OCC said researchers saw an increase in the magnitude and the number of earthquakes.
"On Monday, we had them pause while we had a technical meeting with them and came up with a different plan to hopefully mitigate the risk of these quakes continually," said Skinner. "We are trying to mitigate felt earthquakes, not all seismic activity."
Skinner said Paloma is going to dial back the volume, pressure, and techniques workers use at the site.
???? Have fresh headlines sent to your inbox! Subscribe to KFOR's Morning Headline Newsletter →
"The completion process is going to be restricted to one well at a time rather than multiple wells at a time," said Skinner.
Andrew McCabe, Vice President of Paloma Operations, provided News 4 with the following statement:
"Paloma Operating Company, Inc. is in the process of completing our three well Midnight Sun
development southwest of El Reno in sections 27 and 34 of 12N-8W.
Recent seismic events have been identified in the area by both our internal monitoring system and
by the USGS monitoring service. We have been in contact with the Oklahoma Corporation
Commission (OCC) regarding the events and have had technical discussions with both OCC and
Paloma Operating personnel. Under guidance from the OCC, we have agreed to stagger our well
completion stages and reduce the fluid rate utilized in each stage.
We will continue to work in partnership with the OCC to ensure our operations persist in a safe
manner for the environment, property owners, and personnel as we enter our 8th year of operations in Oklahoma."