Climate Change hits Drillers (and others) with Water Woes

Fresh water impoundment, Bradford County, PA (photo by SRBC)

It takes a lot of water to frack a shalegas (or shale oil) well - millions of gallons. Even people who live in the relatively damp region of Marcellus shale have raised concerns over the millions of gallons drillers use for each well.

Some companies have been recycling their flowback fluids. Others have proposed using minewaste water and water from sewage treatment plants. But that's still millions of gallons of water going downhole that can never be used again. It's gone; out of the water cycle.

And this year, those recycling/re-use efforts simply aren't enough given the drought. Even water-rich NY and PA have seen the driest July on record, forcing the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to halt water withdrawals. Oil and gas drillers in the midwest are so desperate for water that it's becoming a struggle to see whether crops will be irrigated or wells drilled.

Check out this recent article from CNN Money: "Oil companies desperately seek water amid Kansas drought".

Oil and gas companies aren't the only energy companies feeling the heat from climate change. This past Sunday the nuclear power plant in Connecticut shut down one of its two units because the sea water used for cooling was too warm.

Deutch, Investors tell Gas Industry to Improve Drilling Practices

Shale gas is big, it’s booming and it’s global. But if it's going to be permanent, it needs to improve. That's the message from investors and from John Deutch.

Over the past forty years shale gas (and oil) is the biggest change our country has seen in energy, says John Deutch. The MIT professor, who served a number of years in the Department of Energy, recently chaired President Obama’s Shale Gas Production Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, so he knows a little bit about energy. He also sits on the board of directors of Cheniere Energy, Inc. and Raytheon and used to serve on the board at Schlumberger.

A couple weeks ago Deutch spoke at Cornell University about unconventional drilling. Shale gas – and oil – is a game-changer, he said. Not only are the reserves “huge and unexpected” but they are found around the world. And that has political implications for countries that are currently importing oil.

However, he said, for these benefits to come to fruition the gas industry must take quick and decisive action to protect the environment. Developing shale gas is a heavily industrial activity that Deutch characterized as “extremely intrusive”. And, he reminded people, “…no matter how much gas we eventually use, reliance on natural gas does not avoid the threat of global warming.” Burning gas may decrease the amount of carbon dioxide we pump into the atmosphere, he said, but the continued leakage of methane from production and transport of gas adds an even more potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

But the biggest danger, by far, is the industry’s failure to deal with the environmental impacts, Deutch said. He pointed to four concerns that the President’s shale gas advisory board highlighted in their report:  protecting air quality; protecting water quality; reducing impacts on communities; and long-term land use.

Regardless of what government does, industry needs to step up and take specific steps to reduce environmental impacts. Above all, said Deutch, they need to measure, disclose, and improve. Four months after issuing their initial report they checked in with the industry to see how well they were following the twenty recommendations. The second report, he said, was “pessimistic and skeptical that any progress had occurred.”

Now, six months later, institutional investors are hammering the industry to get moving – to incorporate “best practices”. Why? Because uncertainty about the impacts of unconventional drilling on the environment and human health makes it harder to sell gas development to potential clients.

They, too, have a list, but much shorter. But it also relies on measurement, disclosure and improving drilling practices.

The President's shale gas subcommittee has spoken. The regulators have spoken. The people have spoken. Now the market-place has spoken. The question is: is anybody listening?

Shale Boom leads to Increased Air Pollution

Billions of dollars worth of natural gas is wasted each year, says the World Banks’ Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership. Gas that could otherwise be used to heat homes, cook food or fuel local economies is instead going up in smoke – burned or flared at oil fields across the world. That flaring produces some 400 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Now, preliminary data from World Bank shows that the shale energy boom is fueling a rise in the burning of waste gas. Around the world, gas flaring crept up by 4.5 percent in 2011 – an amount “equivalent to the annual gas use of Denmark” according to a Reuter’s report published yesterday. The World Bank report is due out at the end of the month.

The data indicate that this increase is mostly due to the rise in shale oil exploration in North Dakota, an increase that pushed the US into the top ten gas flaring countries.

Flaring is used to eliminate gas at exploration sites and to test production of the well. The problem is that flaring gas releases a large number of pollutants into the air, including chemicals used to frack the well. In addition to the methane, flaring adds another five dozen chemicals into the air, including: acetalhyde, acrolein, benzene, ethyl benzene, formaldehyde, hexane, naphthalene, propylene, toluene, and xylenes.

Flaring is permitted, but companies could use “greener” technologies that would not only keep these chemicals out of the air but would save money (a savings of $9 for every $1 spent on these technologies according to Deborah Rogers). One tiny detail: these cleaner technologies usually require a gas pipeline to be in place first.

A 2009 report on green completions from SMU explains that companies could capture up to 70% capture of formerly released gases with green completions.