Overwhelming Majority Of New Drilling Permit Approvals In 3rd Quarter 2024 Are For Extreme Extraction Techniques; Groups Call on Regulators To End Such Approvals says Consumer Watchdog

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- While no California permits were approved in the third quarter to drill conventional oil and gas wells, 33 out of 34 were issued to drill wells using extreme enhanced oil recovery techniques (EOR) in the notorious Cymric Oilfield in Kern County, Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance said today. The 34 approvals represent a rise of 580% over the third quarter of 2023. (See Table 1.) Sentinel Peak Resources California received the 33 approvals.  

This year, the state ended permits to stimulate oil production using polluting hydraulic fracturing to break up rock and reach oil underneath.  But oil regulators continue to permit wells that inject steam under pressure to heat tarlike oil for extraction from nearby production wells. 

"These techniques are energy intensive and have a larger carbon footprint and we are experiencing multiple climate catastrophes currently," said Kyle Ferrar, Western Program Director for FracTracker Alliance. "Instead of moving away from these climate change driving techniques, California is approving more of them when the rest of the country is drowning under water."

"Drilling injection wells next to old wells in a Swiss cheese of overdeveloped fields can cause eruptions of oil rock and mud and spills that threaten the air, water, and oilfield workers," said Consumer Advocate Liza Tucker. "It's time for regulators to stop approving permits for new injection wells using steam flooding and cyclic steaming. This should be banned on the way to stopping all permitting."

FracTracker Analysis of California Geologic Energy Management Division Data

The extreme extraction steam injection well permits were issued to Sentinel Peak Resources California LLC, in the Cymric field in one of several pockets where the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) holds the mineral rights. In this case both CalGEM and the BLM approved these new drilling permits, which were pushed though using an outdated 2021 BLM environmental impact report (EIR) that does not fully consider the environmental risks, according to environmental attorneys. CalGEM is supposed to look at the review and decide independently whether the analysis meets state CEQA requirements, including any feasible mitigation measures. Instead, CalGEM continues to approve new permits that have received insufficient environmental review from the BLM, according to the ongoing litigation.

The drilling of injection wells for steam injection and cyclic steaming is widely used in the Cymric oil field about 35 miles West of Bakersfield that has experienced numerous spills over the years. As of last June, spills in Chevron's part of the field have gushed more than six million gallons of wastewater and crude through June of 2023, according to the Desert Sun.  

One of the spills has continued for 21 years after it began in Kern County oilfield. The amount spilled is larger than the Exxon Valdez disaster, according to the Sun and ProPublica, which found that Chevron earned at least $11.6 million by capturing crude from that spill in just three years. According to ProPublica, producers can turn spills into moneymakers as there is nothing to stop them.

In March, Chevron said it would pay $13 million to the Department of Conservation and Department of Fish and Wildlife for dozens of spills. Governor Newsom toured the first phase of a Chevron Cymric spill in 2019. Newsom banned the use of cyclic steaming and steam flooding at very high pressures in the wake of his visit. But the over-drilling of the area, liquified formations underground, and close proximity of wells still increases the risks of oil spills at lower pressures, said Ferrar.

16,719 total drilling permits of all types have been approved since Governor Newsom came to office in January 2019. To see the number of drilling permits approved in the first quarter of 2024 and locations, visit Consumer Watchdog and FracTrackerAlliance's joint site: https://newsomwellwatch.com

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog