The risk facing the company could be severe with a worst-case scenario being that it could be forced to cease operations in the region altogether if these quakes continue. That would devastate the company because, unlike rival Chesapeake Energy, which also operates disposal wells in the area, SandRidge doesn't have another region to turn to should it be forced to cease drilling in this part of the Mid-Continent. Diversifying away risk It's in this context that SandRidge Energy's Niobrara acreage acquisition in the Rockies makes perfect sense because it gives the company another area to invest in so that all of its eggs aren't in that shaky Mid-Continent basket.