Fracking can be undertaken safely if best practice and effective regulation are enforced, report concludes. Adler deWind reports.
Geoscientist Online Friday 29 June 2012
Picture: Shale gas production plant in the Appalachians. Photo © J.B. Earl & Statoil.
Hydraulic fracturing can be managed effectively in the UK, as long as operational best practices are implemented and robustly enforced through regulation. That was the conclusion of a review by the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering published on 29 June.
Professor Robert Mair FREng FRS, Chair of the working group said: “There has been much speculation around the safety of shale gas extraction following examples of poor practice in the US. We found that well integrity is of key importance but the most common areas of concern, such as the causation of earthquakes with any significant impact or fractures reaching and contaminating drinking water, were very low risk.”
He went on: “Strong regulation and robust monitoring systems must be put in place and best practice strictly enforced if the Government is to give the go-ahead to further exploration. In particular, we emphasise the need for further development and support of the UK’s regulatory system, together with Environmental Risk Assessments for all shale gas operations and more extensive inspections and testing to ensure the integrity of every well.”
ESTABLISHED
The review examined the scientific and engineering evidence relating to the environmental and health and safety risks associated with the onshore extraction of shale gas. The group concluded that hydraulic fracturing was an established technology used by the oil and gas industries for many decades in the UK, and that the risks of contamination of aquifers from fractures was very low, provided that shale gas extraction takes place at depths of many hundreds of metres.
The seismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing, the report said, was likely to be smaller in magnitude than the UK’s natural earthquakes, and than that related to coal mining, which are also low by world standards. The report also pointed out that using open ponds for storing wastewater (historically used in US fracking operations) is not permitted in the UK, which possesses numerous treatment facilities. Similarly, procedures for the disposal of naturally occurring radioactive materials (present in the hydraulic fracturing wastewaters) have been developed already.
The report’s authors noted that a particular cause for concern was poor cementation and casing failures, which could potentially lead to leakages and wider environmental contamination. This has happened in some US cases. The review therefore urged that priority be given to ensuring the integrity of every well throughout its lifetime.
EXTRACTION
If shale gas extraction were to be undertaken commercially in the UK, the report said, there should be strengthening of UK regulators, and lead responsibility for regulation of shale gas extraction should be given to a single regulator. The well inspection system should be strengthened to ensure that well designs are considered from an environmental as well as H&S perspective. Appropriate well-integrity tests should be carried out as standard practice, and Environmental Risk Assessments should be carried out for all shale gas operations and submitted to the regulators for scrutiny. Groundwater should be monitored for methane in groundwater before, during and after hydraulic fracturing is carried out, the report urged.
Professor Mair added: “As we made clear at the start, this review is not an exhaustive analysis of all the issues associated with shale gas and we have highlighted a number of issues that we believe merit further consideration, including the climate risks associated with the extraction and subsequent use of shale gas, and the public acceptability of hydraulic fracturing.”
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