Fracking 101

1
Fracking 101
2
Shale Gas and Tight OilWhat are we talking about?

• Shale -- a fine-grained, sedimentary rock
  characterized by breaks along thin laminae or
  parallel layering or bedding, with low porosity
  and permeability
• Shale gas -- natural gas found trapped within
  shale formations
• Tight oil (also known as liquids-rich shales) --
  light crude oil contained in shales
• Important facts
• The permeability of shales is very low several
  orders of magnitude lower that construction-grade
  cement
• Tight oil development uses the same technology as
  that contributing to the recent shale gas boom.
• Without stimulation, most shales would not be
  economic to produce

3
Shales Whats the Big Deal?

• Shale Gas is the most important energy
  development since the discovery of oil
• Fred Julander, CEO of Julander Energy
• Mission Critical Can Shale Gas Save the World?
• ASPO, September 21, 2009
• "Ample supplies, robust emerging markets and
  uncertainty about nuclear power all point to a
  prominent role for gas in the global energy
  mix."
• International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook
  2011
• The United States may be close to
  self-sufficiency in energy by 2030 because of a
  "shale revolution" in the country.
• BP CEO Bob Dudley, January 17, 2013
• U.S. crude oil production on track to surpass
  imports for first time since 1995
• Energy Information Administration, March 2013
  Short-Term Energy Outlook.

4
Shales Whats the Big Deal?
5
What is fracking?This is short for
hydrofracturing. This is an old technique for
increasing oil production from worked-out oil
wells, but a new technique for obtaining methane
(natural gas).
6
Fracking Bridging a Language Barrier

• Industry defines fracking narrowly, to only
  include the days worth of activity stimulating
  the well
• Opponents define it to include the entire process
  of shale oil and gas development from well site
  identification to production well abandonment
• This semantic difference has contributed to many
  misunderstandings between different stakeholders
• Most cited environmental concerns had nothing to
  do with industrys definition of fracking
  operations
• The characterization of fracking sets the terms
  of the discussion and debate.

7
Fossil fuelsCoalessentially CH0.8The most
carbon per unit of energy.Oilessentially
CH2Intermediate amount of carbon per unit of
energy.GasCH4The least carbon per unit of
energy. This is surely preferable to the other
fossil fuels for this reason.
8
Natural Gas Clean Energy?

• Natural gas power plants produce
• half as much CO2 (greenhouse gas)
• less than a third as much nitrogen oxides (create
  ground level ozone),
• and one percent as much sulfur oxides (causes
  acid rain)
• Compared to the average air emissions from
  coal-fired power plants
• However, natural gas (methane) is about 70 times
  more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas

9

• Current estimate of shale gas resource 862
  trillion cubit feet (TCF) in continental US
• Recoverable using currently available technology
  827 TCF (industry claims)
• Currently consumed in US 23 TCF/year
• Currently produced in US 20 TCF/year
• One TCF of natural gas is enough to heat 15
  million homes for 1 year, generate 100 billion
  kilowatt-hours of electricity, or fuel 12 million
  natural-gas-fired vehicles for 1 year. (Source
  EIA)

10
http//205.254.135.7/energy_in_brief/about_shale_g
as.cfm
11
Northeast primarily the Marcellus (63)
Mid-Continent Fayetteville, Woodford (8)
Rocky Mountain primarily Mancos and Lewis (6)
Gulf Coast Haynesville, Eagle Ford (13)
Southwest Barnett and Barnett-Woodford (10)
ftp//ftp.eia.doe.gov/natgas/usshaleplays.pdf
12
Fracking technology

• Hydraulic fracturing Chemically treated water
  and sand under high pressure to fracture rocks
  (increase permeability)
• Has been used since 1940s in vertical wells to
  stimulate production in existing oil/gas wells
• This technology has been combined with horizontal
  drilling and fracturing in the 1980s and 90s

13
(No Transcript)
14
Frackinghydraulic fracturingWater laced with
chemicals is pumped down to fracture the shale
and releases the gas, which can be pumped up.
15
(No Transcript)
16

• Potential Risks
• Damage to Roadways
• Thousands of trips per well per day

http//protectingourwaters.wordpress.com
17
Leechate of Frack-Water
www.northcountrytrail.org.
18
Potential Risks Quality of released frack
water - Water containing methane from fracking is
highly flammable
Images from Gasland
19
Composition of Frack- Fluid
www.bwerllc.com
Frac water samples from left to right EPS
treated water sample, raw water sample, and EPS
treated and filtered water sample.
20
Potential Environmental Impacts of Shale Gas
Development

• Drill Pad Construction and Operation
• Groundwater Contamination (most controversial
  issue)
• Hydraulic Fracturing and Flowback Water
  Management (another controversial issue)
• Blowouts and House Explosions
• Water Consumption and Supply
• Spill Management and Surface Water Protection
• Small earthquakes from injecting fracking
  wastewaters in deep underground reservoirs
  (Youngstown, Ohio, December 31, 2011, 2.7 and 4.0
  Richter Magnitude earthquakes possibly caused by
  injection fluids)

21
The controversyissue 1 Migration of fracture
fluids (and/or methane) to aquifers

• Industry says No evidence of fracturing fluids
  found in aquifers
• It is highly unlikely/improbable that fracture
  fluids can migrate through the overlying rocks to
  the aquifers

• It is not yet really understood how multiple
  fractures from repeated fracking operations in
  the same site may interact
• How fractures may interact with old oil wells,
  and pre-existing natural faults and fractures

22
The controversyissue 2 Groundwater
contamination from additives in fracture fluids

• Industry says fracturing fluids contain 90
  water, 9.5 sand or other particles, and less
  than 1 additives
• ALL these additives are used in common household
  products. Exposure is not unique to fracking
  chemicals

• Additives may include 2-BE (destroys red blood
  cells among other effects), naphthalene (probable
  carcinogen), and benzene (known carcinogen)
• 15,000 60,000 gallons of additives are needed
  for a single lateral

23
Flowback and Produced Water Management

• After fracking, the injected fluid plus water
  from the shale is brought back up on surface for
  treatment, recycling, and/or disposal
• This water contains saline water from the shale
  formation, fracking fluids, and arsenic
• This can cause surface water contamination if not
  disposed/managed properly (spills)
• Primarily disposed in injection wells (can cause
  earthquakes by lubricating faults)
• Recycling and reusing this water will cut down
  the water consumed by fracking (see next slide)

24
Water use for fracking operations

• Typically 4 to 6 million gallons per well
• EPA estimated that if 35,000 wells are
  hydraulically fractured annually in the US, the
  amount of water consumed would be equivalent to
  that used by 5 million people.
• Source of water used from fracking operations
  varies, and is not well documented or monitored

25
More detail on the Marcellus shale
26
(No Transcript)
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
The increase over the nations midsection has
gotten steeper since 2009, due to more quakes in
a variety of oil and gas production areas,
including some in Arkansas and Oklahoma, the
researchers say.Fracking at fault? Probably
not Its not clear how the earthquake rates
might be related to oil and gas production, the
study authors said. They note that others have
linked earthquakes to injecting huge amounts of
leftover wastewater deep into the earth.
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
(No Transcript)
33
(No Transcript)
34
Todays Plain Dealer
35
Conclusions

• Sorting fact from fiction in the shale gas debate
  is difficult
• This difficulty poses dilemmas for policy-makers
  and regulators
• Conflicting environmental objectives complicate
  transparency and rational assessment
• Reduce fossil fuel dependency at all costs vs.
• Developing sound sustainable approaches to shale
  resource development
• Ethical issues abound between and among critical
  considerations
• Individual values can play a critical role in
  where one stands on this issue
• And how they perceive the facts