The Alberta Energy Regulator is citing an oil company for causing seismic events in the Peace River area

Alberta’s energy regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest on record in the province’s history.

The environmental protection order against Obsidian Energy Ltd. on Thursday came on the same day that a scientific paper was published showing that the quakes were caused by industrial activity – rather than natural causes, as the regulator initially suggested.

Read more: At least two earthquakes were felt in northern Alberta on Tuesday

In November, parts of Alberta near the northwest town of Peace River were hit by a series of earthquakes that culminated in a magnitude 5.6 earthquake.

Residents reported being knocked on their knees. The Earth was pushed up by more than three centimeters – enough to record on satellites.

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Then on March 16, more earthquakes were recorded in the same part of northern Alberta. The Alberta energy regulator said the seismic event was reported about 42 kilometers southeast of the Peace River with a local magnitude of 5.09.

Read more: Western Canada rocked by earthquakes Thursday morning

“This event was caused by a sewage disposal,” said Ryan Schultz, a Canadian seismologist who helped conduct the research while at Stanford University in California.

Oil harvesting techniques, such as deep disposal wells that inject wastewater kilometers underground, can trigger earthquakes.

One such well near the earthquake site, which is used to dispose of water used in oil sands operations, has injected more than 1 million cubic meters of sewage over a distance of about two kilometers.

Read more: Scientists say largest earthquake ever recorded in Alberta may have been natural

After the record-breaking earthquake occurred, the Alberta Geological Survey, a branch of the province’s Alberta Energy Organization, attributed it to natural causes.

The epicenter, which was then estimated to be six kilometers underground, was thought to be too deep and too far from oil drilling activity for the time and space generated by the industry.

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Not so, Schultz said.

1:50 The largest earthquake on record in Alberta is an exciting and frightening event

A closer and more comprehensive look at the data brought the epicenter to about four kilometers below the surface. This number is now reflected in the regulator’s catalog of Alberta earthquakes.

Similarly, a look at previous research on so-called “induced earthquakes” revealed long delay times between deep well water injection and earthquakes.

Schultz said the former disposal site in Alberta started to shake three years after the pumping began. A Dutch earthquake-relief well hasn’t started in decades.

Also, history shows that a deep water dump can cause earthquakes up to 20 kilometers wide. The Alberta earthquakes in November were nowhere near as remote.

“The quake clusters were directly over a deep well to dispose of,” Schultz said.

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1:48 Experts reflect on recent seismic events in Alberta

His paper, co-authored by scientists at the University of Alberta as well as Natural Resources Canada and published in Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that the injected water forced itself between two sides of a deep crack in the Earth.

This water was enough to reduce the friction holding the two sides together and eventually led to the rocking of the surface slip.

Schultz said the statistical analysis of the relationship between earthquakes and underground pumping was crucial.

“We had somewhere between 89 and 97 percent confidence in time,” he said. “There is enough information to start making these kinds of connections.”

AER issues an environmental protection order for Obsidian Energy

Earlier in the day, the Environmental Regulatory Authority said earlier in the day that it had issued an Environmental Protection Order under Sections 113 and 241 of the Environmental Protection and Improvement Act (EPEA) to Obsidian Energy Ltd.

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The rescue authority said it issued the order due to a “series of induced seismic events” that occurred between November 29, 2022, and last week’s earthquakes in the Peace River area.

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Read more: Resulting water spill prompts AER to order energy company to suspend activity on damaged well

The regulator said the AGS investigation, which initially considered the quakes to be natural causes, has now concluded that they were caused by obsidian dumping operations.

The disposal process includes a permitted well for the disposal of water by injection into the Leduc Formation. The unique geological features of the area have also contributed to the seismic events.

“While there is no evidence of damage or injury from these events, this order and subsequent investigation reflects our commitment to Albertans to ensuring safe, efficient, orderly and environmentally responsible development,” the statement said.

“The order is intended to prevent future events and to protect the people of Alberta.”

Under the order, the AER said obsidian must:

Submit plans and take actions acceptable to the AER to reduce frequency and magnitude of events Establish seismic monitoring in the surrounding area that detects events greater than local magnitude 2.0 Install accelerometers in strategic locations within a 10 km radius of disposal to measure vibration

The oil and gas producer pumps about 33,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

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How will human-caused earthquakes affect carbon sequestration plans?

Schultz said the findings could have significant implications for climate change plans in Canada and Alberta.

Both jurisdictions prefer to reduce the climate impact of the county’s energy industry by pumping massive amounts of carbon dioxide waste deep into the earth, much like sewage is injected.

So-called carbon capture and storage, Schultz said, could have the same seismic effects as deep sewage disposal.

“If carbon sequestration is going to be done on a scale that will combat climate change, large amounts of scale have to be put into the ground,” he said.

“You might also expect to increase the magnitude of these types of earthquakes that store them.”

Read more: Data shows faulting triggered earthquakes near Fox Creek: U of A researcher

This does not necessarily mean that carbon capture and storage is a bad idea, he said, but it does mean that more seismic monitoring is needed around the sites to track what is happening deep underground.

“That could be a problem,” Schultz said. Monitoring will tell.

“You should be able to see what’s going on.”

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1:14 The Alberta government is relaxing rules for reducing new oil wells

–With files from Karen Bartko, Global News

And copy 2023 The Canadian Press

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