SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF SALT WATER DISPOSAL BY FORMATION AND CORRELATION WITH SEISMICITY, 2010 TO 2020, DELAWARE BASIN AND CENTRAL BASIN PLATFORM, SOUTHEASTERN NM

Waters co-produced with hydrocarbons are generally being injected into low-quality water bearing rock units. In New Mexico, the Permian Basin--a world class oil and gas basin driven by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing--is the primary region with produced water injection. Injection in saltwater disposal wells in the region are from the Ordovician section up through the Permian section. Injection is focused in the middle Permian (Bell Canyon, Cherry Canyon, and Brushy Canyon; 2.94 Gbbls) and the Siluro-Devonian (3.10 Gbbls) sections. Dividing the section into shallow and deep divisions at the Woodford Shale, shallow salt-water disposal injection has been stable in space and time over the last ten years with some decrease from 2016 to 2020. However, deep injection has increased in volume and spread throughout the basin since 2011. Since 2017, seismicity around the Permian basin has markedly increased, with a rapid acceleration in number and magnitude from the latter half of 2019 through the first half of 2020; spatially this seismicity correlates with the increased deep salt water disposal injection.