The Oklahoma Corporation Commission issued a statement Tuesday that draws the clearest connection yet between disposal wells and earthquakes in northwest Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission issued a statement Tuesday that draws the clearest connection yet between disposal wells and earthquakes in northwest Oklahoma.

A letter from OCC Oil and Gas Conservation Division Director Tim Baker said there appears to be a "very close correlation" between a series of earthquakes in the area around Fairview, Okla., the week of Jan. 4 and storm-created power outages that shut down producing wells.

All the wells came online at the same time once power was restored.

"When the wells began producing again, this apparently resulted in a tremendous volume of produced water being disposed into the Arbuckle formation at the same time," Baker wrote.

The Arbuckle Formation is the state’s deepest rock formation and it’s where the wells in question are disposing of the large amounts of salt water brought up during oil production in that area.

The Fairview area extending north to Alva has had 61 earthquakes with magnitudes of 2.0 or greater in the past 30 days, including at least 19 in a two-day period from Jan. 6-8.

Four of those quakes registered magnitudes of 4.0 or greater, including a 4.4 and 4.8 that occurred within a minute of each other just before midnight on Jan. 6.

To avoid injecting such large volumes of water into the formation in a short period of time, the Oil and Gas Conservation Division recommends wells and their associated production volumes be phased in if another large power outage occurs.

The commission has also asked for volume reductions in 27 disposal wells, including seven operated by SandRidge Exploration and Production, LLC.

In late December, OCC announced it would file suit against SandRidge after the company refused to shut down four wells and reduce volumes at 40 more as part of a Dec. 2 earthquake action plan developed in response to earthquakes in the nearby Cherokee and Medford area.

According to the most recent OCC release, the commission is working on a much larger plan.

"The data available indicates that a much larger approach to the earthquakes in that entire part of northwestern Oklahoma is needed, and we have been working on such a plan," Baker said. "However, given the recent earthquake activity in the Fairview area, the plan announced today is a necessary step as part of this ongoing process."

Stillwater NewsPress. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.