Land subsidence caused by withdrawal of oil and gas in the Gulf coastal plain - The Houston, Texas, case history

Conference · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:5989262

Holzer, T L ^[1]

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1. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (USA)

The extensive network of geodetic leveling lines in the Houston-Galveston, Texas, area, where at least 110 oil and gas fields have been developed, provides the most comprehensive opportunity in the Gulf Coast to search for the occurrence of land subsidence caused by withdrawal of oil and gas. Although the evaluation is complicated by regional subsidence caused by a decline of ground-water level in aquifers beneath the area, subsidence caused by oil and gas withdrawal can be examined by searching for local increases of subsidence at oil and gas fields crossed by leveling lines. Twenty-nine fields are crossed by lines with repeated leveling surveys. Subsidence profiles across these fields indicate local increases of subsidence at six fields-Alco-Mag, Chocolate Bayou, Goose Creek, Hastings, Mykawa, and South Houston. Although ground-water withdrawal is undoubtedly the most important factor contributing to the total subsidence at each field, oil and gas withdrawal may be partly responsible for the local increases. Except for Chocolate Bayou, the volume of petroleum production at each field was sufficient to account for the increase. The volume of petroleum production, however, in general is not a reliable index for predicting the local increase because land within many fields with significant production did not show local increases of subsidence. With the exception of the 1 m subsidence caused by petroleum withdrawal at Goose Creek (1917-1925), local increases of subsidence were less than 0.3 m.

• OSTI ID: 5989262
• Report Number(s): CONF-9010204--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Journal Volume: 74:9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900* -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
03 NATURAL GAS
030800 -- Natural Gas-- Environmental Aspects
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
AQUIFERS
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLUID WITHDRAWAL
GROUND SUBSIDENCE
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
NATURAL GAS WELLS
NORTH AMERICA
OIL WELLS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
TEXAS
USA
WATER
WELLS