CO2 injections likely culprit in Texas earthquakes –study

Reuters, By: Reuters, 11/04/2013

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Carbon dioxide injected into oil and gas wells may have caused a series of minor earthquakes in Texas long before the adoption of current hydraulic fracking, according to a study published on Monday in a national science journal. The study, which analyzed 93 earthquakes that occurred between March 2009 and December 2010, appears to be the first to link earthquakes of magnitude 3 and above and carbon dioxide injections in the Cogdell oil field near Snyder, Texas.

Tremors in the area that occurred between 1975 and 1982 were previously linked to the injection of water into wells but the same explanation could not be applied to earthquakes that occurred in late 2000s, the paper's two authors said. “The timing of gas injection suggests it may have contributed to triggering the recent seismic activity,” the study said. “If so, this represents an instance where gas injection has triggered earthquakes having magnitudes 3 and larger.”

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