Frackcing
Fracking Will Destroy the Environment! ### Fracing Will Save the Economy and Jobs!
To Frac or not to Frack: that is the question:
Watch the telly, read the papers, fracking is a hot subject. Protestors shout; politicians and business sooth; media coverage is constant. Only one thing is missing – Facts. Have you read or heard many real hard Facts? I haven’t. Could it be that Facts are bad for media business? Facts could help people reach conclusions and end the shouting and posturing. Could FACTS be bad for media business?
Well, the members of the Malvern U3A Geology group who attended Dr James Verdon’s talk on Fracing are now in possession of that rare commodity - Facts on Fracing.
On 11th February 2015, U3A Geology group members were treated to a polished presentation on the history of Fracing (scientific spelling) or Fracking (media and opposition spelling) by Dr James Verdon, research fellow at the School of Earth Sciences - University of Bristol, advisor to government and industry, with research interest in the mapping of fracing cracks. How Jim enticed him to present to us I have no idea, but well done!
Geology and Technology: We learned that fracing has been going on in one form or another for over 100 years and is standard throughout the oil industry as a part of the efficient exploitation of standard oil reserves. Current fracing issues are associated with gas extraction from shale deposits. However the geology and technology is not materially different in the two applications, except that shale deposits sit below conventional oil, so further away from sensitive water tables. So what is the fuss about?
Environment and Safety: Here was a hint at what the fuss may be about. We’ve all seen the pictures and heard of the horrors of the old American oil fields, yet Dr Verdon pointed out that conventional oil extraction, which includes fracing techniques, has been going on for many years in the Bournmouth holiday and retirement area without causing much furore. How come?
Regulation: It appears that the Regulations in the UK are different from the historic USA scenario? We were told that in the UK there are no open fluid treatment ponds; no open gas burn off flares; spillage containment is implemented; drilling sites re-landscaped; wells are piped directly to the gas grid to avoid trucking of product: monitoring of borehole failure with rapid rectification; water table monitoring; monitoring of fracture location etc.
Economic: Future projections show that without gas from UK fracing, roughly 50% of gas will have to be imported over the next 15 years. An example of plastics manufacture showed that whilst US production costs had halved due to domestic gas production from fracing, European costs, without domestic supplies, are now 3 times higher than the USA.
We were given a lot of clear information. It gave a positively picture of fracing being a logical, safe and valuable technology that the UK should get on with exploiting. If I gauged the feeling of the group correctly, the majority were feeling positively about fracing. Could it be that the protestors are basing their objections on American experience, even though it was indicated that the USA is changing and is implementing similarly stringent regulations on some sites?
So why the apparently high standards in the UK and the changes in the US? The tone of the talk was that naturally, the highest standards pertain as a matter of course. But I wonder. When engineers are up against it, companies are mega investing, it is regulation that keeps people focused. And where does the regulation come from? Moral duty? Perhaps, but would that be powerful enough without the threat of real live Protestors creating waves?
So is all hunky-dory with fracing or is there still ‘something nasty in the woodshed’? Nothing lurking in the shed according to the presentation, but some questions perhaps highlighted that all may not yet be perfect. One was on the finite life expectancy of the concrete used to plug spent wells, how long would they be safe for? Another on whether microphone locations for fracing crack detection really mapped higher level locations? Perhaps not always it seems. Certainly, time didn’t allow for an in-depth discussion and we can feel comforted that crack mapping is an ongoing development by Dr Verdon.
So I would tend to say “good on the protestors” for creating waves. Bad on the media for not making the facts clear. And Very Good on Dr Verdon for his efforts in spreading the facts; facts which can dissipate the waves and let the country get on with extracting gas in an environmentally responsible way, for the good of the country and the planet!
But what do YOU think?
1. What is shale gas: same as conventional gas, extracted from levels below where conventional gas and oil reserves collect.
2. History of Hydraulic Fracturing: crude methods using explosives were used from the late 1800s. Pressurised fluid fracturing dates from 1947. By the late 1950s, over 3,000 fracs per month were performed in the USA. By 2008 50,000 fracs per year were being performed worldwide. Pumps have moved from 1,500hp to 10,000hp and fluids have moved to use less chemicals.
3. Horizontal Drilling: Development of horizontal drilling techniques enables one compact, low visual and spatial impact drilling site, to extend underground to a 6km radius. Example is the drill site on an island in Poole harbour.
4. Gas Demand and Future Energy Scenarios: UK gas consumption 2001 to 2012 has remained level, but is predicted to fall towards 2030 if ‘green’ measures are achieved. Whether or not this happens, current UK gas production only covers half the demand, the remainder being imported. The issue is not about whether gas should be used, but where does the UK get it from. Gas from UK fracing could reduce (eliminate?) imports, with its associated major economic and security benefits.
5. Graph of Impact of USA shale gas on plastics manufacture: In 2005, plastics production cost in China, Western Europe and the United States were similar, and 2.5 times the cost in the Middle East. With the increase in Shale Gas production in the US, the figures for 2012 show that production costs in the USA have dropped to be about as low as the Middle East, with Western Europe and China becoming 4 times more expensive. The implication is that the UK could do similarly to the USA if it adopted fracing.
6. The Shale Gas process: Small unobtrusive drilling sites. Secure multi-layered steel and concreted drill casing through levels containing fresh water aquifers. Multiple barriers make failure unlikely.
7. Shale Gas Process: Actual fracing process takes 1 day only. After a year, the site is reduced to a re-landscaped well head valve and pipeline.
8. Monitoring Hydrailic Fracs (Dr Verdon’s speciality): The slide shows seismic detection of crack creation using down-hole geophones and triangulation. (After the talk, he said that on some sites they used surface geophones as well or instead, to detect possible higher level cracking.)
9. Potential fracking impacts: The Gasland Movie which attributed water pollution to fracking, the second slide showed the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Statement saying that there was no evidence that fracking was responsible for any contamination, and that it came from existing natural sources. Environment Agency statement that “Only substances that have been assessed as being non-hazardous within the specified situation can be used” as fracing fluid.
10. Pathways of Contamination: diagram showing crack location caused by fracing in relation to aquifer depth (I think, but not sure, that it was a superposition of 18 wells from as study?). Point being made is that there is 3000ft of strata between the highest frac cracks and the deepest water level. Complaints of contamination, when investigated, usually (though not always) appeared to come from existing natural sources.
11. Wellbore Integrity by numbers: despite some claims that most wells leak eventually, this slide showed that of 33,000 wells drilled in Ohio, there were 12 well integrity incidents [0.04%] and in Texas of 187,000, 21 incidents [0.01%]. During questions Dr Verdon said that the area around wells was constantly monitored for leaks, and in the event of a problem, the repair was carried out quickly and simply.
12. UK Statistics: 2,000 onshore wells drilled as of 2014. 1 recorded wellbore integrity incident that was fixed quickly.
13. Surface management of fluids & air quality: In the UK fluid handling regulations require to make appropriate plans for storing fluid safely, and not in open pits; design the site so spills are avoided (and are contained if they do happen); dispose of flowback fluid safely. Burn off must be enclosed (not open flares) and air quality must be monitored and within regulation levels.
14. Surface Impact - Drilling Pads [drill sites] & pipelines: have to be minimal impact during the setup [typically a year], then landscaped to a high degree for the long term production run.
15. There were more slides in Dr Verdon’s set but insufficient time to include them in his talk.
Derek Walker