---
title: "Oil Companies Are Pumping Worthless Oil Back Underground"
description: "Oil companies in Texas reportedly started to pay buyers to take oil off their hands and even pumping it underground for storage."
date: "2020-05-21"
modified: "2020-05-21"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/oil-companies-pumping-worthless-oil-back-underground"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "crude oil"
  - "oil"
  - "oil companies"
---

# Oil Companies Are Pumping Worthless Oil Back Underground

![Oil companies in Texas reportedly started to pay buyers to take oil off their hands and even pumping it underground for storage.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/oil-companies-pumping-worthless-oil-back-underground.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Image via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

For the first time in history, oil prices [went negative](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/first-time-ever-price-oil-negative>) last month due to plummeting demand and oil traders running out of space to store their oil.

As a result, some oil and gas companies are now resorting to desperate measures. They've reportedly started to pay buyers to take oil off their hands — and in some instances, have even started pumping it back into the ground, the [*Texas Observer* reports](<https://www.texasobserver.org/underground-storage-oil-rule-rollback/>).

The oil isn't going back to precisely where it came from. Instead, producers are exploring options to store it in underground geological formations that can hold oil and liquefied gas.

Earlier this month, a local oil and gas regulator temporarily gave the industry permission to store oil in unconventional underground formations, according to the *Observer.*

The move did not allow for a comment period or a public hearing, shocking local environmental groups.

Making matters worse, the regulator had to roll back state regulations that were in place to ensure groundwater was not being contaminated.

"Allowing storage in these other formations obviously raises a lot of concerns for both environmental health and the health of our aquifers," Emma Pabst, from the think tank Environment Texas, told the *Observer*.

**READ MORE:** [With Storage Space Evaporating, the Oil and Gas Industry Will Get to Put Its Products Back Underground](<https://www.texasobserver.org/underground-storage-oil-rule-rollback/>) \[*The Texas Observer*\]

**More on oil:** *[FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THE PRICE OF OIL IS NOW NEGATIVE](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/first-time-ever-price-oil-negative>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)