West Texas Oilfield Operation Shut Down After Earthquake

CULBERSON COUNTY, TX — The Texas Railroad Commission has ordered Houston-based Blackbuck Resources to halt operations at its wastewater injection site in Culberson County after a 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck West Texas earlier this month, according to a report made by the Houston Chronicle. 

The emergency order, approved unanimously Tuesday, forces Blackbuck to cease activity for at least 15 days. State regulators say the company was the only one still injecting oilfield wastewater deep underground in an area where the practice had been banned since December 2023 due to seismic activity.

The May 3 earthquake tied for the largest of its kind in Texas history and has intensified scrutiny over the link between wastewater disposal and increased seismicity. Experts with the Railroad Commission said faults in the area are being triggered as wastewater drains underground.

Commissioner Jim Wright was reported as saying, “I don’t see that we have a choice in this matter,” citing public safety concerns. The order came as Blackbuck’s legal challenge against the original 2023 suspension remained pending. The company argued that its well is geologically isolated and could not be causing earthquakes in the region.

Paul DuBois, assistant director of technical permitting for the commission, told commissioners that since other nearby disposal wells were shut down, seismic activity appears to be migrating closer to Blackbuck’s operation.

The case remains under review by an administrative law judge.