Prior oil and gas production can limit the occurrence of injection-induced seismicity: A case study in the Delaware Basin of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, USA

Abstract We demonstrate that pore pressure and stress changes resulting from several decades of oil gas production significantly affect the likelihood injection-related induced seismicity. illustrate this process in Delaware Basin (western Texas southeastern New Mexico, USA), which hydraulic fracturing waste-water injection have been inducing numerous earthquakes southernmost part basin where there has no prior formations are now occurring. In seismically quiescent basin, we show pore-pressure poroelastic-stress associated with make seismicity less likely. The findings study important implications for feasibility large-scale carbon storage depleted reservoirs.