Posted on 02/21/2006 8:23:44 AM PST by mattdono
"Isn't parrafin a refined product of crude?"
It can be. It's naturally present in (lots of) crude and has to seperated out. In certain oilfields (like ones in this part of California), it's a real nuisance.
"I believe they are doing some injection drilling close by and it came up through a weakness in the zone. I understand the street and sidewalks in the area were tested at 93-110 degrees."
One, you don't do "injection drilling." You have a normal well and inject water (or C02 or whatever into it to increase reservoir pressure.)
Two, it would be highly unlikely for pressure to come up from the "zone." Oil/gas is (generally, in this area, notable exception abound) 2,500-7,500 feet deep. To give perspective 5400 feet is MILE. It ain't going migrate up. (Water wells are 50-200 feet deep)
Three, the temperature of the water is not that big of a deal in injection wells. You're not going to be able to heat anything beyond a foot outside your casing. (Now, there could be cleaning up a well with hot water; that's different that injection.)
The more likely scenario is a leak in the casing (the pipe) somewhere very near (10-20 feet) the surface. This is called a "casing head" leak. Casing heads break because they corrode and get banged up when you work on the well.
Housing would soar again here in OC. And we'd have a front row seat ...
I resent being called a blob.
And I'm only eating the prettiest girls.
they were pumping hot water into nearby wells. I don't know if you knew that but I thought I'd mention it since I heard that last night on the news. FYI
Sounds like the old Manley oil field is acting up again; the county and city alike drove the family business out of town and finally purchased the site for $1.00 about 25 years ago; but environmental laws disallow any use of the potential resource, so it remains a nuisance.
I'd start looking for a ruptured steam pipe while I was at it, if I were they.
That is classic hot oiling.
You heat the wax (parrafin) with water to get it out of the pipes.
They've got a leak; no surprising, given the age of the oilfield. (LA sprawl overtook the existing field.)
"That's my thinking too."
I've got a bridge I need to sell you.
Also factor in the dramatic change in weather temperature. It goes from extreme (CA scale ;o)) to extreme hot from day to day. The plates have got to be swelling and shrinking. I think you may be right. Has anyone checked the missing pets reports lately?
"I wonder if Tommy Lee Jones was on seen"
I seen him!
shouldn't they be able to locate the busted pipe pretty easily with all the sonar/x-ray equipment?
"Also factor in the dramatic change in weather temperature. It goes from extreme (CA scale ;o)) to extreme hot from day to day."
The temperature of the air (in the short term) doesn't effect the temperature of the ground more than a few feet down. (Think permafrost.) It pretty much stays the same.
(Yes, I am a geologist.)
"shouldn't they be able to locate the busted pipe pretty easily with all the sonar/x-ray equipment?"
No.
You do a "shut-in pressure" test on the well. Basically, you look for a pressure bleed like a leaking tire.
Something is forcing this up from below ground. I would take this as a warning of a possible earthguake. There are test wells near LA where the water is near boiling.""
You are very perceptive. Hang in there. Big quake could be just the beginning of trouble.
This morning on the news they said a crew had been pumping water into an oil field. I have heard of that being done before. Terminal island was sinking after a century of having the oil pumped out, and they were having to build levees around the Long Beach end. They started pumping water in to replace the oil taken.
Wouldn't the continued back and forth of the weather eventually add up to affect the ground further down? Or is my lifelong theory of weather and earthquakes compleyly debunked?
I think they will look for a casing head leak. Once we get more info about the well we can look it up, my guess is in that area it is a shallow well.
http://owr.conservation.ca.gov/WellSearch/WellSearch.aspx
There's no particular correlation of weather (or moon phase, etc.) to earthquakes. And overall, there really is absolutely nothing that is a reliable predictor of earthquakes.
The San Andreas Fault at Parkfield was the most wired place on earth, and when they finally had that 6.0 a few years back....there wasn't a single precursor of any kind; no conceivable way to have predicted it in the short term.
"Wouldn't the continued back and forth of the weather eventually add up to affect the ground further down? Or is my lifelong theory of weather and earthquakes compleyly debunked?"
Completely debunked. The ground is a huge heat sink; it is pretty-well impervious to all-but the most extreme heat changes. A trip into any shallow cave (which are generally cold) tells you this. Heck, walking into a basement tells you this.
With some notable exceptiions heat/cooling in the ground comes from NORM (radioactive decay), some sort of water source, or vulcanism.
The tectonic plates are much too deep (way under the soil) to pay attention to dayly temp changes.
THAT SAID, there is some thought that the unequal pull of the moon/Sun during the course of a year (the Earth's orbit is eliptical, not a perfect circle) may have some SLIGHT effect on how the continents drift. AND this pull changes SLIGHTLY during the year.
BUT, if that had effect on earthquakes, you would presumably see a repeated increase in quakes during the same time each year --- i.e. "winter is eathquake season" or somesuch. I am unaware of any study showing that correlation.
"You'd better watch out for the Eggplant that ate Chicago.
If he's still hungry the whole country's doomed."
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