Many anti-fracking protestors who have sprung up across the Westside this month are positive that Plains Exploration & Production Co., PXP, is fracking in the Baldwin Hills Oil Field, and has been for years.
Are they?
The question today was put to Steve Rusch, Vice President Environmental, Health, & Safety and Government Affairs, for PXP, which has drilled the thousand-yard hotbed space for a decade .
“PXP is not currently conducting any high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing operations at the Inglewood Oil Field of the type that are the focus of discussion in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country,” Mr. Rusch said.
“Two high-volume hydraulic fracturing treatments were conducted in the past year to provide data for the hydraulic fracturing study PXP is preparing as a condition of the CSD (Community Standards District) lawsuit settlement that was entered in to last year with L.A. County, CCSC, NRDC and other stakeholder groups. The study will provide actual scientific data points,not just theoretical data points, that can be used to help address the questions that have been raised about what is essentially a very technical, engineering-driven well completion activity.”
Mr. Rusch was asked if PXP has fracked in the past, and for how long?
“Over the life of the oil field,” he said, “a number of conventional hydraulic fracturing treatments have been conducted. The utilization of the completion method is specific to the type of well that has been drilled and the geologic characteristics of the formation.
“Most wells in the field are completed using high rate gravel pack methods, which are significantly different in a number of aspects from the high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing operations.
