Source: The Barrel Blog | Meghan Gordon, Senior Writer | March 3, 2017  

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The good news for Oklahoma is that the number of earthquakes stronger than magnitude 2.7 that hit the state last year fell by more than a third to 2,500, compared with 4,000 in 2015.

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The bad news is the 2016 total is still astronomical compared to the two earthquakes the state experienced annually between 1980 and 2000.

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A key question for Oklahoma regulators and for oil and gas drillers there is what caused last year’s decline: Was it mainly the result of state efforts to restrict drillers’ wastewater injections, which the US Geological Survey has linked to the increase in seismicity? Was it the slowdown in drilling activity from low oil prices? Or was it a combination of the two?

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That answer could become clearer as drilling picks back up as expected this year.

To continue reading the Barrel Blog article, click here.

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