Fracking

R E Hester, R M Harrison

• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781782623014
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Chemistry
• Index: Chemistry

Fracking has the potential to extract hydrocarbons from previously inaccessible sources of gas and oil, but is regularly in the news because of environmental concerns surrounding the process. First used commercially in the mid-20th Century, only recently has fracking been deployed on a large scale, revolutionising the energy industry in the USA. As more nations seek to adopt or ban fracking, do the economic benefits outweigh the environmental costs? Presenting both sides of the debate, this latest volume of Issues in Environmental Science and Technology draws on a wealth of international expertise, ranging from the oil and gas industry to Friends of the Earth. The technology of fracking is examined in detail, as well as the associated economic, societal and global climate change considerations. Anyone wishing to gain a balanced view of hydraulic fracturing will benefit from reading this book, which is aimed at researchers in academia and industry, policy makers, environmental science students and the interested layman.

Introduction and Overview: the Role of Shale Gas in Securing Our Energy Future

PETER HARDY

ABSTRACT

The phenomenon of shale gas is both topical and controversial. Its proponents claim that it is a clean, environmentally friendly and abundant source of cheap natural gas; its opponents believe the opposite. In several countries it is a fast-growing industry and operations have begun in the UK.

With conventional reserves of natural gas being quickly depleted, gas prospecting is turning to “unconventional resources”, one example being gas found in shale. Uncommon technologies, notably hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, are necessary for shale extraction to be economical.

Shale gas has faced some difficulties over concerns regarding environmental pollution. In the US, Gasland, an influential film was released alleging that waste fluid from hydraulic fracturing, “flowback water”, was polluting groundwater. While it is possible for methane to enter groundwater through a faulty well completion, in the UK it is the responsibility of the Environment Agency and HSE to ensure regulation is adequate to prevent risks to the environment or human health.

There have been two earthquakes in Lancashire thought to have been caused by shale gas operations. The results of an investigation into these have been accepted as revealing that they were caused by hydraulic fracturing operations and new guidelines are being proposed to reduce the risk of this happening again.

With insufficient public information and sometimes animosity towards shale gas, drillers need to consider developing corporate social responsibility programs tailored to the needs of the communities local to drilling, with especial consideration towards environmental initiatives.

Worldwide, shale gas has had a significant and growing impact on gas production and looks likely to rapidly transform the energy situation.

In Europe, Poland and France have the largest reserves; Poland has embarked on a program to exploit its shale gas reserves. France, on the other hand, has outlawed the hydraulic fracturing technology vital to shale gas on environmental grounds.

The UK’s shale gas reserves are unlikely to be large enough to be a “game changer”; however, they would contribute to gas security and the UK’s energy mix, as well as being perceived as a lower-carbon alternative to coal-fired electricity generation.

There are already substantial reserves of gas available worldwide; however, the development of these unconventional gases, which are often in more politically stable parts of the world, may provide a greater security of supply to the Western World going forward.

1 Introduction

As the existing conventional gas supplies have started to decline in some parts of the western world, the search has been on for alternative secure sources of supply. One of the most exciting developments in the last 20 years in the natural gas sector has been the development of unconventional gases and, in particular, the exploration and production of shale gas. The existence of shale gas has been known for decades but technological difficulties and substantial financial costs associated with its extraction have up until recently made its exploitation uneconomic. However, increased demand and lagging supply have resulted in the price of gas rising to the point where, along with the development of advances in drilling, shale gas has started to represent a viable alternative to conventional sources of supply. Shale gas is now being produced in large quantities in the USA as their industry has developed over the last decade. Exploitation of reserves is now progressing in other parts of the world, including Poland and Australia. In addition, exploration is starting in other countries including the UK but the development of shale gas production, which often includes hydraulically fracturing of the rock (otherwise known as fracking), is not without its opponents. In America the film, Gasland, raised issues relating to problems associated with fracking which has caused some people to have environmental concerns. In some countries, such as France, an embargo has been placed on fracking and even within the USA some states are not as yet permitting it. There have been reports of ground-water contamination which has resulted in illnesses, gas coming out of water taps, and earthquakes caused by fracking. However, in many parts of the world shale gas is seen as a secure source of hydrocarbon that cannot be ignored. Development is seen in many countries as a way to secure energy supplies that is independent of events in the more volatile parts of the world where most of the existing gas and oil reserves are located.

1.1 History

In 1821 shale gas was produced from a natural seepage in the Appalachian Mountains at Fredonia, New York, USA. It was trapped and piped in hollow logs where it was used to light homes and businesses. The profit margins were small and small local operators exploited it as a “cottage industry”.¹

In the late 1960s and early 1970s it was clear that the political situation in the Middle East was changing. There had been Arab–Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973 and the situation led to dramatically increased prices for oil as well as supply shortages. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)^† also rose to international prominence during the 1970s, as its Member Countries took control of their domestic petroleum industries and acquired a major say in the pricing of crude oil on world markets. On two occasions, oil prices rose steeply in a volatile market, triggered by the Arab oil embargo in 1973 and the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. OPEC broadened its mandate with the first Summit of Heads of State and Government in Algiers in 1975, which addressed the plight of the poorer nations and called for a new era of cooperation in international relations in the interests of world economic development and stability. This led to the establishment of the OPEC Fund for International Development in 1976. Member Countries embarked on ambitious socio-economic development schemes. It was against this background of volatile oil prices and trying to ensure security of supply that, in 1976, the United States Department of Energy initiated the Eastern Shales Project at a cost of up to $200 million to evaluate the geology, geochemistry and petroleum production engineering of non-conventional petroleum, including shale gas. Important reports established findings from what was then the only shale gas production in the world,² based on the Devonian and Mississippian shales in the Appalachian basin.³ These reports led to the establishment of the Gas Research Institute and also stimulated research at Imperial College in the United Kingdom looking at evaluating potential resources. The geology of the plate tectonics of the Atlantic Ocean implied that the continuation of the Appalachian basin extended across into the UK and on into mainland Europe (see Figure 1). Imperial College focussed on the US paradigm of “cottage industry” and reviewed potential shale gas extraction from throughout the rock strata.⁴ The study concluded that Pre-Cambrian and Lower Palaeozoic shales were generally too metamorphosed to b...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Editors
• List of Contributors
• Introduction and Overview: the Role of Shale Gas in Securing Our Energy Future
• Shale Gas Boom, Trade and Environmental Policies: Global Economic and Environmental Analyses in a Multidisciplinary Modeling Framework
• Exploration for Unconventional Hydrocarbons: Shale Gas and Shale Oil
• Climate Change Impacts of Shale Gas Production
• The Hydrogeological Aspects of Shale Gas Extraction in the UK
• Coal Seam Gas Recovery in Australia: Economic, Environmental and Policy Issues
• Prospects for Shale Gas Development in China
• Unconventional and Unburnable: Why going all out for Shale Gas is the Wrong Direction for the UK's Energy Policy
• Subject Index