Railroad Commission of Texas said last week it will add more requirements to new disposal well permits in Permian Basin to help the agency and industry monitor and respond to injection and reservoir conditions that may induce seismic activity. The new regulations will require certain new disposal wells to be equipped and operated with a bottomhole pressure monitoring gauge.
These permit conditions will apply to all new “deep” disposal wells in Permian Basin and to all new “shallow” disposal wells in a designated seismic response area (SRA). The new regulations will require operators to report daily injection data monthly, including maximum surface injection pressure, average surface injection pressure, maximum bottomhole injection pressure, injection volume, maximum injection rate and average fluid density.