Shale Gas Fracking Research Articles

Procedural (in)justice in regulating shale gas as transitional fuel in India

India has earmarked 56 shale gas fracking projects as part of its coal-to-gas transition plan. However, fracking poses peculiar risks to the environment and public health. This paper examines whether India’s fracking-based energy transition pathway ensures procedural justice for its citizens by evaluating its regulatory framework on three key aspects of procedural justice: information, inclusion and influence. In doing so, this paper posits that procedural rights are considered part of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights in India. To address the procedural justice issues, this paper argues that the Indian government should conduct scientific inquiries into the environmental impact of the proposed fracking projects. Additionally, the paper suggests establishing communication channels to inform local communities about fracking-related risks through decentralised regulatory mechanisms, creating regulatory structures to involve various stakeholders in decision-making, and analysing how fracking will affect the socio-economic conditions of local communities.

Hollow hydroxyapatite constructs dual channel structured separation membranes for ultra-fast oil-water separation

The discharge of industrial wastewater and frequent oil spills have caused serious harm to the environment, and in order to achieve sustainable development of the environment, membrane separation technology stands out among the many methods for treating oil and water. In this work, hollow hydroxyapatite was grown in situ on Mg Al LDH to construct an oil–water separation membrane with dual channels, and water molecules could not only pass through the porous structure of HAP, but also pass through the gap between HAP and LDH, and the opening of the dual channels greatly improved the oil–water separation speed, and the flux of the petroleum ether emulsion was up to 5208.93 ± 117.62 L/(m2·h·bar) with the separation efficiency up to 99.4 %, and still has 98.8 % rejection rate after 10 cycles, it can efficiently separate many kinds of heavy metal ions and dyes. In order to evaluate the practical performance of the membrane, we found a high rejection rate of 87 % after several cycles of the shale gas fracking wastewater, and this work provides a new idea for the development of oil–water separation membranes with practical applications.

Research and performance optimization of carbon dioxide foam fracturing fluid suitable for shale reservoir

Compared to conventional fracturing techniques, foam fracturing has numerous advantages, including good shear resistance, strong sand carrying capacity, low fluid loss, low damage, and fast return rates. It is particularly suitable for stimulation in low pressure, low permeability, and water-sensitive formations. Specifically, CO2 foam fracturing is crucial in energy savings and emission reductions, controlling the expansion of reservoir clay minerals, reducing crude oil viscosity, and improving the production of water-locked reservoirs. In this paper, we investigate the foam fracturing fluid and evaluate its performance. We selected thickeners with good foaming stability and foaming agents with excellent performance at low dosage levels, based on experimental evaluation. We finally determined the formulation of the foam fracturing fluid by analyzing the experimental data, such as foam half-life, foam mass, and viscosity. We experimentally evaluated the viscosity, static sand settling properties, and rheological properties of the fluid. After being tested on the reservoir core, the foam fracturing fluid has a viscosity of 2 mPas. Moreover, the residue content is 1.1 mg/L, the surface tension is 24.5 mN/m, and the interfacial tension is 1.5 mN/m. The fluid-carrying sand experiment of 40–70 mesh ceramic particles, commonly used in shale gas fracking, was evaluated. The sand-to-liquid ratio was set at 40% for the static sand-carrying experiment. The flow of the fluid-carrying sand was good, and the settling property was satisfactory for 3 h. We used shale reservoir cores from well W-1 to assess the rate of foam fracture, which was less than 19%. Under the experimental conditions of a shear rate of 170 S−1 and a temperature of 90°C, the viscosity of fracturing fluid was measured to be greater than 50 mPas, 90 min after shear, demonstrating the excellent temperature and shear resistance of the foam fracturing fluid. Using CO2 foam fracturing fluid can significantly improve the reconstruction effect of low permeability hydrocarbon reservoirs (especially unconventional reservoirs) and solve problems related to water resources and environmental protection during the process of oil and gas reservoir development. It will be a major factor in improving construction impacts and addressing water and environmental concerns for low permeability hydrocarbon reservoirs, particularly unconventional ones that utilize CO2 foam fracturing fluids.

Study on Fault Activation Evaluation Mechanism and Sensitivity Analysis in Shale Gas Hydraulic Fracturing

Shale gas hydraulic fracturing usually activates nearby faults and makes them slip. In horizontal wells, fault slip can result in serious casing deformation. Casing deformation slows the fracturing process, lowers production, and raises the cost of a shale gas well. It is challenging to obtain underground data on fault activation because of the deep shale reservoirs. As a result, the current study needed to indicate how hydraulic fracturing affects fault activation length. This made it challenging to control casing deformation. The fluid-structure coupled finite element method was used in this study to create a coupled seepage-stress model for heterogeneous shale formation. With microseismic signs and hydraulic fracking for shale gas, this model examined the variation law of pore pressure and ground stress. The fault activation coefficient was created to assess the fault activation duration and the impact of hydraulic fracturing. The model was verified by the microseismic signal. The outcomes of the numerical simulation demonstrate how the rapid rise in formation pore pressure during hydraulic fracturing affected the ground stress at the fault interface. The influence of ground stress variation at the fault interface on fault activation could not be ignored. Increased fault elastic modulus, fracture pressure, fracture time, and the fault Poisson ratio result in longer fault activation lengths. The length of the fault’s activation was decreased by the increase in fracture stage, distance from the fault, friction angle within the fault, and fault angle. Finally, a shale gas horizontal well with casing deformation in block C was analyzed. The results showed that reducing the fracturing duration can reduce the activation length of the fault by 68.25%, resulting in a 9.1 mm fault slide and a 0.86 mm casing deformation, respectively. This study offers theoretical guidelines for preventing fault activation during hydraulic fracturing in horizontal shale gas wells.

Optimization of Carbon Dioxide Foam Fracturing Technology for Shale Gas Reservoir

Major shale gas exploration and development fields are located in the Sichuan basin. It requires huge water sources for shale gas fracking, but the well sites are mostly in the hills, which limits the industrialization of shale gas development. CO2 foam fluids can meet the requirements of fracking fluids and relieve water stress. It analyzed the feasibility of CO2 foaming fracturing for shale gas formation fracturing, proposed a design philosophy for CO2 foaming fracturing, and optimized fracturing parameters such as foam mass, proppant concentration, friction, and discharge rate. The flowchart of CO2 foam fracturing was established in, where the fracture morphology and propagation behavior of CO2 foam fracturing were obtained from numerical simulations comparable to the hydraulic fracture generated by conventional hydraulic fracturing. The CO2 foaming fracturing technique can provide a discharge rate of 6.0 m3/min and fluid volume and captures the volume effect of the current stimulated reservoir, which needs to be improved. It can be considered an initial survey of CO2 foam fracturing available in the Sichuan Basin shale formation, which may provide new methods and clues for stimulation.

The age of the manager is over? Shale gas fracking and the challenge to the post-political regime for English planning

Planning systems developed through the period of ‘normative’, ‘third way’ neoliberalism were critiqued as being ‘post-political’. Planning systems were developed that bypassed political conflicts through technocratic and consensus-seeking approaches following a so-called ‘end of history’ in which left/right ideological conflicts were deemed settled. Following the North Atlantic financial crisis of 2007/8 though, scholars have begun to question whether this is a suitable critique of planning, and state institutions more generally, as political and economic conditions shift. This paper examines a case of an exemplar post-political planning system: England. The paper identifies three key logics of a ‘post-political regime’ for planning: techno-managerialism, consensus and participation. Through an analysis of texts and interviews of contested planning decisions made over shale gas fracking sites, this paper shows a ‘post-political regime’ for planning facing a crisis of legitimacy as it is challenged by an anti-fracking movement and reactionary interventions from central government. The paper provides an institutional level analysis of the crisis of post-political planning, which has lost legitimacy amidst the slow collapse of normative neoliberalism.

Humanizing hydrocarbon frontiers: the “lived experience” of shale gas fracking in the United Kingdom’s Fylde communities

ABSTRACT In this study, we explore the lived experiences of communities at the frontier of shale gas extraction in the United Kingdom. We ask: How do local people experience shale gas development? What narratives and reasoning do individuals use to explain their support, opposition or ambivalence to unconventional hydrocarbon developments? How do they understand their lived experiences changing over time, and what sorts of coping strategies do they rely upon? To do so, we draw insights from semi-structured interviews with 31 individuals in Lancashire, England, living or working near the only active shale gas extraction operation in the UK until the government moratorium was announced in December of 2019. Through these data, we identify several themes of negative experiences, including “horrendous” participation, community “abuse,” disillusionment and “disgust,” and earthquakes with the potential to “ruin” lives. We also identify themes of positive experiences emphasizing togetherness and community “gelling”, environmental “awareness,” everyday energy security with gas as a “bridging fuel,” and local employment with “high quality jobs.” Finally, we identify themes of ambivalent and temporally dynamic experiences with shale gas that move from neutral to negative regarding vehicle traffic, and neutral to positive regarding disgust with protesting behaviour and the diversion of community resources. Our study offers context to high level policy concerns and also humanizes community and resident experiences close to fracking sites.

Model simulations of atmospheric methane (1997–2016) and their evaluation using NOAA and AGAGE surface and IAGOS-CARIBIC aircraft observations

Abstract. Methane (CH4) is an important greenhouse gas, and its atmospheric budget is determined by interacting sources and sinks in a dynamic global environment. Methane observations indicate that after almost a decade of stagnation, from 2006, a sudden and continuing global mixing ratio increase took place. We applied a general circulation model to simulate the global atmospheric budget, variability, and trends of methane for the period 1997–2016. Using interannually constant CH4 a priori emissions from 11 biogenic and fossil source categories, the model results are compared with observations from 17 Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) surface stations and intercontinental Civil Aircraft for the Regular observation of the atmosphere Based on an Instrumented Container (CARIBIC) flights, with > 4800 CH4 samples, gathered on > 320 flights in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere. Based on a simple optimization procedure, methane emission categories have been scaled to reduce discrepancies with the observational data for the period 1997–2006. With this approach, the all-station mean dry air mole fraction of 1780 nmol mol−1 could be improved from an a priori root mean square deviation (RMSD) of 1.31 % to just 0.61 %, associated with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.79. The simulated a priori interhemispheric difference of 143.12 nmol mol−1 was improved to 131.28 nmol mol−1, which matched the observations quite well (130.82 nmol mol−1). Analogously, aircraft measurements were reproduced well, with a global RMSD of 1.1 % for the measurements before 2007, with even better results on a regional level (e.g., over India, with an RMSD of 0.98 % and R2=0.65). With regard to emission optimization, this implied a 30.2 Tg CH4 yr−1 reduction in predominantly fossil-fuel-related emissions and a 28.7 Tg CH4 yr−1 increase of biogenic sources. With the same methodology, the CH4 growth that started in 2007 and continued almost linearly through 2013 was investigated, exploring the contributions by four potential causes, namely biogenic emissions from tropical wetlands, from agriculture including ruminant animals, and from rice cultivation, and anthropogenic emissions (fossil fuel sources, e.g., shale gas fracking) in North America. The optimization procedure adopted in this work showed that an increase in emissions from shale gas (7.67 Tg yr−1), rice cultivation (7.15 Tg yr−1), and tropical wetlands (0.58 Tg yr−1) for the period 2006–2013 leads to an optimal agreement (i.e., lowest RMSD) between model results and observations.

Utilising Principles of Earth Jurisprudence to Prevent Environmental Harm: Applying a Case Study of Unconventional Hydraulic Fracturing for Shale Gas in the United Kingdom

Approaching behaviour that produces environmental harm through the medium of criminal sanctions (largely involving monetary penalties) has been criticised consistently as failing to prevent environmental crimes and harms, and failing to concurrently reduce environmental re-offending. Furthermore, important state–corporate political and economic relationships exist that ensure the continuation of environmental degradation. We suggest that a way to overcome this is to re-work the current legal system to one grounded in Earth jurisprudence. Although we realise that state–corporate relationships would likely prevent the implementation of Earth jurisprudential principles, we argue such principles are essential to up-end the prioritisation of economic imperatives over ecological values within capitalist societies. To demonstrate the strength and utility of the Earth jurisprudential approach, we use the case of fracking for shale gas in the United Kingdom to examine how Earth jurisprudential principles could prevent environmental harm from occurring.

Carbon footprint management of unconventional natural gas development in the export scenario

In Australia, exploitation of shale gas is at an early stage. Western Australia has estimated its technically recoverable gas resources at 235 trillion cubic feet (tcf). It is viewed as an exciting economic prospect and decarbonising option for transition to climate change mitigation. The central focus of this paper is to estimate the climate impacts of Australian shale gas fracking and compare with other energy sources. Electricity generation has been considered as end use of gas in export scenarios to Japan and China. Analysis has been done for resource development periods of 20 and 40 years. Carbon footprints of shale gas range from 604MtCO2e to 543 MtCO2e per annum for China and Japan export cases, respectively, for 20 years field lifetime, if 66 tcf of shale gas is exploited and used. This result is roughly equivalent to 115% of Australia's total national emissions for the year 2014. If all technically recoverable shale gas (235tcf) from the Canning Basin in the Kimberley is exploited and exported to China and Japan over 40 years, the annual emissions are double the total Australian national emissions. The result suggests that shale gas has low carbon intensity compared to coal and oil but solar PV and wind are much cleaner energy options for GHG mitigation. The solar PV and wind electricity would produce 8% and 5% of the shale gas electricity emissions, respectively. Unless accompanied by stringent regulation and compliance on the upstream resource development, stage shale gas cannot be an appropriate energy source for sustainable development as opposed to renewable energy sources.

Pore pressure prediction methods using normal compaction trend based on seismic inversion

Pore pressure prediction plays an important role in shale gas exploration and fracking technology. The pore pressure in shale cannot be directly measured but to be inferred by the normal velocity trend, so methods based on the effective stress theory are dedicated to establishing a function between seismic interval velocity and pressure. Among them the mostly used method is Eaton’s equation. However, how to precisely quantify the state of compaction remains unsolved. In this study, the AVO/AVA simultaneous inversion was introduced to estimate P-velocity. According to the exponential relationship between the pore pressure and the ratio of velocities, three different methods including the fitting method, the direct calculation method and the model-based direct calculation method based on the Eaton’s equation were used to estimate shale gas pore pressure, respectively. And then a comparative analysis was performed to see the impact of normal compaction trend on the result. It was found that the horizontal continuity of the model-based direct calculation method was the best. The result shows that the approach of estimating the normal compaction trend impacts the pore pressure significantly.

Public Health and Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction Including Fracking: Global Lessons from a Scottish Government Review.

Unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOGE) including fracking for shale gas is underway in North America on a large scale, and in Australia and some other countries. It is viewed as a major source of global energy needs by proponents. Critics consider fracking and UOGE an immediate and long-term threat to global, national, and regional public health and climate. Rarely have governments brought together relatively detailed assessments of direct and indirect public health risks associated with fracking and weighed these against potential benefits to inform a national debate on whether to pursue this energy route. The Scottish government has now done so in a wide-ranging consultation underpinned by a variety of reports on unconventional gas extraction including fracking. This paper analyses the Scottish government approach from inception to conclusion, and from procedures to outcomes. The reports commissioned by the Scottish government include a comprehensive review dedicated specifically to public health as well as reports on climate change, economic impacts, transport, geology, and decommissioning. All these reports are relevant to public health, and taken together offer a comprehensive review of existing evidence. The approach is unique globally when compared with UOGE assessments conducted in the USA, Australia, Canada, and England. The review process builds a useful evidence base although it is not without flaws. The process approach, if not the content, offers a framework that may have merits globally.

Hindustan Gum, Jodhpur: Managing Agribusiness Supply Chain Risks

Hindustan Gum is an agro-processor in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. It is primarily in the business of processing guar gum. The market volatility in demand and prices have shot up due to the need of guar gum in the new and growing shale gas fracking, primarily in the US. Hindustan Gum has been trying to respond to this by considering options like expansion in processing, and contract farming for guar seed sourcing.

Fault reactivation and earthquakes with magnitudes of up to Mw4.7 induced by shale-gas hydraulic fracturing in Sichuan Basin, China

This paper presents a timely and detailed study of significant injection-induced seismicity recently observed in the Sichuan Basin, China, where shale-gas hydraulic fracturing has been initiated and the aggressive production of shale gas is planned for the coming years. Multiple lines of evidence, including an epidemic-type aftershock sequence model, relocated hypocenters, the mechanisms of 13 large events (MW > 3.5), and numerically calculated Coulomb failure stress results, convincingly suggest that a series of earthquakes with moment magnitudes up to MW 4.7 has been induced by “short-term” (several months at a single well pad) injections for hydraulic fracturing at depths of 2.3 to 3 km. This, in turn, supports the hypothesis that they represent examples of injection-induced fault reactivation. The geologic reasons why earthquake magnitudes associated with hydraulic fracturing operations are so high in this area are discussed. Because hydraulic fracturing operations are on the rise in the Sichuan Basin, it would be beneficial for the geoscience, gas operator, regulator, and academic communities to work collectively to elucidate the local factors governing the high level of injection-induced seismicity, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that shale gas fracking can be carried out effectively and safely.

A roadmap for lifecycle sustainability evaluation of shale gas fracking process

A roadmap for lifecycle sustainability evaluation of shale gas fracking process

A roadmap for lifecycle sustainability evaluation of shale gas fracking process

Energy development has been undergoing rapid changes in the area of technology development and adoption in recent years. New technologies are making previously unexploitable and uneconomical fossil energy sources to become technically feasible and profitable. However, there has also been a lot of controversies surrounding the utilisation of these new energy development technologies because of environmental and health consequences of using them. One of the new technologies creating a wave of controversies is hydraulic fracking process for shale oil and shale gas. This study examines the controversies surrounding shale fracking process and what needs to be done to address these issues. The study was based on literature reviews, observations at a fracking site, and conversation with people living in the neighbourhoods of fracking activities. Results of the study revealed a need to carry out lifecycle sustainability assessment of the fracking process for each site prior to the utilisation of the technology on the site. This article outlines the framework for lifecycle sustainability evaluation of shale gas fracking process for a site. It also identifies the problem of data gap and how the process could be made more sustainable. This would provide a decision support for sustainable exploitation of shale gas from any given site.

Energy Technology, Politics, and Interpretative Frames: Shale Gas Fracking in Eastern Europe

This article explores competing interpretive frames regarding shale gas in Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania. These countries face the choice of embracing shale gas as a potential revolutionizing domestic source of energy, against the backdrop of Russia serving as the dominant gas supplier. This makes them interesting cases for studying how policy narratives and discourses coalesce around a novel technology. The findings, which are based on sixty-six semistructured research interviews, point to differing and indeed competing frames, ranging from national security, environmental boons to economic sellout and authoritarianism, with different sets of institutions sharing those frames. This suggests that enhancing energy security by way of deploying novel energy technologies such as shale gas fracking is not simply a function of resource endowments and technological progress. Instead, it is the result of complex dynamics unfolding among social stakeholders and the related discursive processes, which eventually will determine whether—or not—shale gas will go global.

Indicative energy technology assessment of UK shale gas extraction

There is at present much interest in unconventional sources of natural gas, especially in shale gas which is obtained by hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’. Boreholes are drilled and then lined with steel tubes so that a mixture of water and sand with small quantities of chemicals – the fracking fluid – can be pumped into them at very high pressure. The sand grains that wedge into the cracks induced in the shale rock by a ‘perforating gun’ then releases gas which returns up the tubes. In the United Kingdom (UK) exploratory drilling is at an early stage, with licences being issued to drill a limited number of test boreholes around the country. However, such activities are already meeting community resistance and controversy. Like all energy technologies it exhibits unwanted ‘side-effects’; these simply differ in their level of severity between the various options. Shale gas may make, for example, a contribution to attaining the UK’s statutory ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions targets, but only if appropriate and robust regulations are enforced. The benefits and disadvantages of shale gas fracking are therefore discussed in order to illustrate a ‘balance sheet’ approach. It is also argued that it is desirable to bring together experts from a range of disciplines in order to carry out energy technology assessments. That should draw on and interact with national and local stakeholders: ‘actors’ both large and small. Community engagement in a genuinely participative process – where the government is prepared to change course in response to the evidence and public opinion – will consequently be critically important for the adoption of any new energy option that might meet the needs of a low carbon future.

Numerical evaluation of the shear stimulation effect in naturally fractured formations

In shale gas fracking, the stimulated natural fracture system is often critical to the gas production. In this paper, we present the results of state-of-the-art modeling of a detailed parametric evolution of the shear stimulation effect in discrete fracture network (DFN) formations. Two-dimensional computational modeling studies have been used in an attempt towards understanding how naturally fractured reservoirs response in hydraulic fracturing. Simulations were conducted as a function of: (1) the in-situ stress ratio; (2) internal friction angle of DFN; (3) DFN orientation with the stress field; and (4) operational variables such as injection rate. A sensitivity study reveals a number of interesting observations resulting from these parameters on the shear stimulation in natural fracture system. This work strongly links the production technology, geomechanical evaluation and aids in the understanding and optimization of hydraulic fracturing simulations in naturally fractured reservoirs.

UK public perceptions of shale gas hydraulic fracturing: The role of audience, message and contextual factors on risk perceptions and policy support

There is growing recognition of the need to understand public attitudes to energy sources, such as shale gas, and to feed these into decision-making. This study represents the first detailed UK experimental survey of public perceptions of shale gas fracking, including analysis of the effects of different messages and the relative influence of different audience, message and contextual factors on support and risk perceptions in respect of shale gas fracking. Using an online survey (N=1457) of the UK public, we find considerable ambivalence about shale gas, but also greater awareness of potential risks than benefits. Prior knowledge is associated with more favourable attitudes, although demographics, political affiliation and environmental values are strongest influences on perceptions. When provided with environmental or economic information about shale gas, participants became more positive – irrespective of their prior values or whether information is framed in terms of losses or gains. As expected, prior attitudes predict how information is received, with more attitude change amongst the most ambivalent respondents. We conclude that additional information about shale gas is more likely to be effective changing attitudes if focussed on this ’undecided’ group. Studies of this type are important for policy makers and industry alike.