Land Subsidence Near Oil and Gas Fields, Houston, Texas^a

Abstract

Subsidence profiles across 29 oil and gas fields in the 12,200‐km2 Houston, Texas, regional subsidence area, which is caused by decline of ground‐water level, suggest that the contribution of petroleum withdrawal to local land subsidence is small. Despite large volumes of petroleum production, subsidence at most fields was not increased by oil and gas withdrawal. Local increases of subsidence were detected at only six fields—Alco‐Mag, Chocolate Bayou, Goose Creek, Hastings, Mykawa, and South Houston. With the exception of the 1‐m subsidence from 1917 to 1925 at Goose Creek, differential subsidence across oil and gas fields was smaller by a factor of two or more than subsidence caused by aquifer compaction. At four fields—Barbers Hill, Cedar Bayou, Humble, and Pierce Junction—subsidence was substantially less than in the surrounding area. Except for Cedar Bayou, these fields are associated with shallow salt domes that partly occupy the aquifer system; for the three fields, subsidence during the periods of record came to less than half the subsidence in the surrounding area. In addition to land subsidence, faults with an aggregate length of more than 240 km (150 mi) have offset the land surface in historical time. Natural geologic deformation, ground‐water pumping, and petroleum withdrawal have all been considered as potential causes of the historical offset across these faults. The minor amount of localized land subsidence associated with oil and gas fields, however, suggests that petroleum withdrawal is not a major cause of the historical faulting, at least by a differential compaction mechanism.

Water-level altitudes 2017 and water-level changes in the Chicot, Evangeline, and Jasper Aquifers and compaction 1973–2016 in the Chicot and Evangeline Aquifers, Houston-Galveston region, Texas

“…1) (Pratt and Johnson, 1926). Although subsidence was first identified in the Houston-Galveston region as a result of hydrocarbon extraction at this particular oil field, most of the subsidence in the Houston-Galveston region is a direct result of groundwater withdrawals that have depressured and dewatered the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, thereby causing compaction of the aquifer sediments (Winslow and Doyel, 1954;Winslow and Wood, 1959;Gabrysch and Bonnet, 1975;Gabrysch, 1984;Holzer and Bluntzer, 1984;Kasmarek, Gabrysch, and Johnson, 2010).…”

Evaluating Land Subsidence Rates and Their Implications for Land Loss in the Lower Mississippi River Basin

“…Four factors have been frequently mentioned in the literature, including geological factors, such as consolidation of Holocene sediments, lithospheric flexure response to sediment loadings, tectonic movements on growth faults and anthropogenic factors, mostly human-induced fluid extraction and hydrocarbon production [20][21][22][23][24]. Yuill et al (2009) found that the range of rates caused by the four factors were 1.0-8.0, 1.0-5.0, 0.1-20 and 0-3 mm/year [9].…”

Land Subsidence Along the Texas Gulf Coast Due to Oil and Gas Withdrawal

“…The Wooster Fault located on the north end of the Goose Creek Field along with the Hogg Island Fault on the south end of the Goose Creek Field form an east-west graben in which the oil field is located (Sheets, 1979). Faulting may be associated with subsidence caused by production of the Goose Creek Field during 1917-25 (Holzer and Bluntzer, 1984).…”

“…Secondly, acquisition of data, such as bottom hole pressures involved in petroleum production, is difficult. Previous studies within the Harris-Galveston region have focused on the Chocolate Bayou, Mykawa, South Houston, and the Goose Creek Fields (Gabrysch and Coplin, 1990;Holzer and Bluntzer, 1984;Kreitler, 1976;Yerkes and Castle, 1969). Holzer and Bluntzer (1984) show that the majority of the subsidence historically in the Houston area can be attributed to groundwater withdrawal with the exception of the Barbers Hill, Cedar Bayou, Humble and Pierce Junction Fields.…”

“…Some researchers (Sharp and Hill, 1995;Kreitler, 1976;Holzer and Bluntzer, 1984) have suggested that hydrocarbon withdrawal has played a role in subsidence in the Harris-Galveston region. They cite evidence from the Goose Creek Field showing 1 m (3 .28 ft) of subsidence from 1917 to 1925 (Pratt and Johnson, 1926).…”