Company: REI
Filing Date: 2025-03-05
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001628280-25-010585
Chunk: 37

Company: RING ENERGY, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-03-05
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 37
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 customers or service providers operate or imposes new or enhanced permitting requirements, our operations could be adversely impacted by increased compliance costs and energy infrastructure project delays or cancellations.

Underground Injection Control

The underground injection of crude oil and natural gas wastes is regulated by the Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) program, as authorized by the SDWA, as well as by state programs. The primary objective of injection well operating requirements is to ensure the mechanical integrity of the injection apparatus and to prevent migration of fluid from the injection zone into underground sources of drinking water, as well as to prevent communication between injected fluids and zones capable of producing hydrocarbons. The SDWA establishes requirements for permitting, testing, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting of injection well activities, as well as a prohibition against the migration of fluid containing contaminants into underground sources of drinking water. Any leakage from the subsurface portions of the injection wells could cause degradation of fresh groundwater resources, potentially resulting in the suspension of permits, issuance of fines and penalties from governmental agencies, incurrence of expenditures for remediation of the affected resource, and imposition of liability by third parties for property damages and personal injuries.

Under the auspices of the federal UIC program as implemented by states with UIC primacy, regulators, particularly at the state level, are becoming increasingly sensitive to possible correlations between underground injection and seismic activity. Consequently, state regulators implementing both the federal UIC program and state corollaries have been heavily scrutinizing the location of injection facilities relative to faulting and are limiting both the density and injection facilities as well as the rate of injection.

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In Texas, the RRC regulates the disposal of produced water by injection well. Permits must be obtained before drilling saltwater disposal wells, and casing integrity monitoring must be conducted periodically to ensure the casing is not leaking saltwater to groundwater. Contamination of groundwater by oil and natural gas drilling, production, and related operations may result in fines, penalties, and remediation costs, among other sanctions and liabilities under the SDWA and state laws. In response to recent seismic events near underground injection wells used for the disposal of oil and natural gas-related waste waters, federal and some state agencies have begun investigating whether such wells have caused increased seismic activity, and some states have shut down or placed volumetric injection limits on existing wells or imposed moratoria on the use of such injection wells. In response to concerns related to induced seismicity, regulators in some states have already adopted or are considering additional requirements related to seismic safety. For example, the RRC has adopted