Marcellus Shale formation & natural gas
- This topic has 11 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated Oct 9, 2009 at 1:58 am by
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Maybe it was my own ignorance but I had no idea what it took to drill for natural gas.
As many of you are aware, the vast majority of the natural gas deposits are in what is called the Marcellus Shale formation that runs through West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. To get to the gas deposits they do hydraulic “fracking,” a drilling method where millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals are shot down a well under immense pressure, breaking apart the shale that allows the gas to escape so it can be pumped out. And they get the millions of gallons from nearby rivers and streams. But what exactly are the chemicals they are shooting down into the ground?
Specifically, the chemicals are hydrochloric acid, petroleum-based lubricants, solvents, corrosion inhibitors, and microbe-killers. Now, as a lover of hunting and fishing and the great outdoors, that list of toxic stuff will make a person go “hmmmmm,” won’t it? Many of the hunting and conservation websites I looked at claim that these are the same carcinogenic chemicals found in Drano and other caustic household cleaners. Uh-oh.
http://www.propublica.org/series/buried-secrets-gas-drillings-environmental-threat
Dan,
Don’t worry though according to the Natural Gas Guys the waste water (when handled and decontaminated properly) is completly harmless to the environment and the millions of gallons needed per hour is only a minute amount of what is available.The probelm is there are very few facilities capable of Handling and properly decontaminating the waste water “properly” so they will need to build a bunch of those to go along with the exploratory wells and then the 10 acre well head platforms. And of course we can’t levy any sort of tax on the gas mans earnings because it would be discouraging to the developement of this wonderful resource.
John
Fracing as a completion method was pioneered by George Mitchell in the Barnett shale in the Fort Worth Basin and has opened up a new frontier for the E&P Sector. Most of the new, large resource plays are highly dependent on multistage fracs.
As mentioned, the issue is not the actual frac job, but the flow back of the waste water when the well cleans up. Companies typically inject the water back into the ground from the same formations they came from.
Most operators are moving towards slick water fracs without gels or other chemical, instead using special sand to prop up the fractures and increase permeability and porosity of the hydrocarbonate source rock.
I know Zach doesn’t like to jump off topic so if you have any question PM me.
As a mineral owner, Ive personally been involved in projects throughout TX, LA, NM, OK, CO, PA, WV, NY, ND involving over 1,000 wells completed with multi stage fracs. Some with 28 seperate frac stages, and have never encountered a problem with groundwater or surface water contamination.
I appreciate that Grant but clearly accidents are occuring as reported in various real newspapers (not the enviro-wacko publications). Just something folks need to keep an eye on, not all operators are a responsible as yourself.
Accidents do happen, but they are extremely rare when you consider the volume of drilling occuring in these formations (Marcellus Shale, Barnett Shale, etc.).
Only a matter of time before this topic reared its head in the fishing circles.
Probably need to back off from the knee jerk reaction a little. My biggest concern is in the rush to develope this resource things are going to be overlooked either intentionally or accidentally. I have hiked the Lehigh River Gorge and Glen Oko in Eastern PA and 30+ years after the exploratory wells were shot you still need to be wary of where you hike and walk.
My biggest concern is in the rush to develope this resource things are going to be overlooked either intentionally or accidentally.
JWJohn,
You hit the nail on the head here. It’s not that I or anyone else is against the capture/harnessing/use of natural resources for the greater good. Its how its done that can cause problems.
If you know the stories of guys like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller, they were so bright and quick they simply kept ahead of everyone else.
Carnegie was making so much money, so fast, in new ways that the government and authorities could not write tax code or get new accounting regulations in play fast enough to keep up with him. He was so smart and quick the by the time they passed a law, he was already another 2 steps ahead of them.
This is exactly whats at risk with the Marcellus Shale. Federal and state gov’t and local commissions really want to do their best to keep things in check, but with the incredibly slow speeds at which they traditionally tend to move…they just may not be able to stay ahead of it.
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