Sacramento, CA — Oil companies drilling for oil within a half mile of community residents produce a tiny trickle of oil—2.1 barrels of oil per day per well on average, according to new data from the FracTracker Alliance.
Consumer Watchdog said the data makes the case for passage of California Assembly Bill 2716 (Bryan), which forces wells within 3200 feet of a community that produce less than 15 barrels of oil per day to pay a $10,000 per day fine. The bill is being heard Monday afternoon in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
The groups say the documented impact of drilling in communities, with links to cancer, asthma, and birth defects, justifies a large penalty on low producing wells that produce no economic benefit but pose huge health risks. Sixty-four consumer, health and environmental advocacy groups have announced their support for AB 2716.
“What is the health of our communities worth?” asked FracTracker Alliance Western Program Director, Kyle Ferrar. “With oil at less than $80 per barrel, oil drillers are putting the health of communities at risk for less than $150 per day.”
FracTracker Alliance found that overall statewide oil production averages 3.3 barrels per day per well based on CalGEM data for 2022. But for wells located within 3,200 feet of homes and other sensitive receptors from schools to hospitals the amount of 2.1 barrels per day is 36% less.
Wells that produce fewer than 15 barrels of oil per day are known as “stripper wells” because they are considered no longer economically viable. By comparison, half of the country’s oil and gas production between 2012 and 2022 came from wells that produced between 100 and 3,200 barrels per day, according to the Energy Information Administration. An onshore well that produces between 1,000 and 3,000 barrels of oil a day is considered a good production range.
“Oil drillers need to pay a price for keeping wells that pollute operational when they are producing no economic benefit for society,” said Consumer Watchdog president Jamie Court. “The average community well’s two barrel of oil output is not even enough to fuel four Ford F-150 trucks.” Consumer Watchdog is the sponsor of AB 2716.
The health harms to the community from drilling are extreme. About 2.7 million Californians live within 3,200 feet of an oil well. These Californians suffer higher rates of respiratory illness, prenatal defects, and cancer, according to independent scientific research. According to FracTracker, 83% of the 26,453 of unplugged oil wells in set-back zones in California are operating as stripper wells. Oil producers would rather keep them open than spend $100,000 or more to plug them and clean up the environmental mess. Out of 30 operators that own these stripper wells within the setbacks, Chevron, California Resources, Sentinel Peak Resources and Aera Energy own the most, according to FracTracker Alliance research.
