Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush – NYTimes.com
June 26, 2011 1 Comment
Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush – NYTimes.com.
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A blog about energy and the environment.
FracFocus-Chemical Disclosure
June 2, 2011
Welcome to FracFocus, the hydraulic fracturing chemical registry website. This website is a joint project of the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
On this site you can search for information about the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. You will also find educational materials designed to help you put this information in perspective.
French Lean Toward Ban of a Controversial Gas Extraction Technique – NYTimes.com
May 11, 2011
French Lean Toward Ban of a Controversial Gas Extraction Technique – NYTimes.com.
French Lean Toward Ban of a Controversial Gas Extraction Technique
By DAVID JOLLY
Published: May 10, 2011
PARIS — French lawmakers opened debate on Tuesday on proposals to ban a method for extracting oil and gas deposits from shale because of environmental concerns, throwing up the first serious stumbling block to firms that want to use the practice.
Looking with alarm at the experience in the United States, where shale gas is booming, even members of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing conservative party have come out against the practice, known as hydraulic fracturing, in which water, sand and chemicals are pumped deep underground under high pressure to free scattered pockets of oil and gas from dense rock formations.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, “is not something we want to use in France,” Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the environment minister, said on RMC Radio.
“Shale gas is the same as any other gas,” said Ms. Kosciusko-Morizet, who in February announced a halt in all exploration, pending the results of a study. “What poses a problem is the technology used. Today there aren’t 30 technologies, there’s only one for extracting shale gas — hydraulic fracturing.”
Even without the final study, which is expected in June, deputies in the National Assembly are expected to pass a ban on Wednesday. The legislation will then be sent to the Senate.
Proponents of so-called unconventional gas and oil argue that exploiting European shale deposits would reduce the Continent’s dependence on imports. Shale-based fuels have only begun to appear on the regional energy agenda but may become increasingly visible in the second half of 2011, when Poland assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union. The Poles, leery of their reliance on Russia for their gas, have embraced the search for shale gas.
Fracking has been employed in the United States since the 1990s to tap beds of shale that energy producers had previously considered almost useless. Production from those wells now contributes nearly a quarter of the United States gas supply, driving down prices for consumers. But criticism of the practice has been growing even as it spreads.
A critical documentary on the practice, “Gasland,” was nominated this year for an Oscar, and a spill in Pennsylvania by Chesapeake Energy that polluted a waterway with fracking chemicals seemed to confirm some people’s worst fears.
A ban would affect companies, including Hess Oil France, which has teamed up with the French unit of Toreador Resources to explore in the Paris area; Vermilion Energy, a Canadian company; Schuepbach Energy, a Texas company that is allied with Gaz de France; and Total, the largest French oil company.
Europe is at least a decade behind the United States in exploring its shale resources, and no one is even certain how much oil and gas there is, much less how much can be recovered profitably.
“Our position hasn’t changed,” Total said in a statement. “We think it would be wrong for the country to close the dossier on shale gas without even knowing if there is any.”
Hess Oil France, which has a license for exploring for oil in the Paris basin, had been only about two days from beginning test-drilling in February when the government announced the halt, Mark R. Katrosh, the chief executive, said in an interview.
Mr. Katrosh, who noted that low levels of oil production had been taking place for decades in the Paris region, cited estimates that France held as many as 100 billion barrels of shale oil, of which perhaps 10 billion were recoverable.
Regarding the potential size of the resource, Mr. Katrosh said, “we’re all talking hypothetically right now. The country needs to debate and decide whether they see value in understanding what the potential resource is, and if they do, we’re one of the companies that’s willing to make the investment to better understand this and demonstrate that we can operate safely and respectfully of the environment.”
Industry officials remain optimistic that with public education and political will, economic logic will eventually carry the day. They acknowledge that Europe needs to modernize its regulatory system to adapt to the technology, and they say they expect to have to adapt to much stricter regulation than is the norm in the United States.
For the several hundred fracking opponents outside the National Assembly on Tuesday morning, no compromise is possible.
“For now, we oppose all drilling,” said Liliane Devillers, president of Collectif Carmen, an organization that she said was an umbrella group representing 16 “mostly apolitical” environmental associations from the Picardie region northeast of Paris.
“No one has shown us that it can be done safely, and all the information we have suggests there is a big risk for the groundwater from toxic chemicals.”
ALL THE ‘FRACKING’ FACTS @ SCIFEST AFRICA 2011 | Grocott’s Mail Online | Grahamstown News
May 8, 2011
ALL THE ‘FRACKING’ FACTS @ SCIFEST AFRICA 2011 | Grocott’s Mail Online | Grahamstown News.
08/05/2011 15:30
Africa/Johannesburg
MEDIA RELEASE
SCIFEST AFRICA
APRIL 2011
ALL THE ‘FRACKING’ FACTS @ SCIFEST AFRICA 2011
Blurb: The definitive scientific facts about fracking are just one in a series of public lectures by South African and international scientists at Scifest Africa this year!
Body Copy:
With the fracas around proposed fracking in the Karoo reaching fever pitch, those for and against are both vocally expressing their opinion! Soon though at Scifest Africa in Grahamstown from 4 – 10 May 2011, one of the world’s leading scientific specialists on the subject will present the full “fracking” facts – as part of a fascinating lecture series by globally acknowledged authorities on various subjects at Scifest Africa this year.
Proff. Anthony Ingraffea, from Cornell University in the USA is just one of almost twenty worldwide experts on the Scifest public lecture programme. But what makes his presentation so special is not just that fracking is such a topical and hotly debated issue right now. Proff. Ingraffea will be the first person ever to give a Skype-facilitated public lecture in the fifteen year history of Scifest! And it promises to be a spectacular eye-opener, because of Proff. Ingraffea’s world renowned expertise!
Indeed, for many South Africans fracking is a recent discovery; and most of us had no idea what it was until its relatively recent arrival on news reports and in public debates. Officially known as hydraulic fracturing, fracking is used to access shale gas reserves locked in underground rock formations. This is done by drilling deepboreholes and injecting a chemical cocktail of water, sand and chemicals at extremely high pressure to crack open the rocks and release the gas.
One environmental report claims that “fracking could permanently damage the Karoo environment, cause catastrophic drinking water pollution and air pollution, be a health concern for humans and animals and cause general environmental degradation”. On the other hand, those for fracking claim that it will create jobs and that the environmental threat is ‘manageable’, albeit not guaranteed as absent. Ultimately however, a definitive scientific answer is needed to debunk the myths and fully explore the fracking facts. Proff. Ingraffea’s lecture promises to do just that!
Proff. Ingraffea is a multi-award-winning Professor of Engineering in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University and a leading authority figure on the physical effects of fracking. His research concentrates on computer simulation and physical testing of complex fracturing processes; and with his students he also completed pioneering research in the use of interactive computer graphics in computational fracture mechanics. Now, with Proff. Ingraffea’s public lecture, South Africans who are perplexed about what to believe about fracking will have direct access to a seminal presentation on the issue – whose content stems from decades of research data, intricate computer modelling and scientific insights on the subject. And it’s only happening at Scifest Africa 2011.
Proff. Ingraffea’s lecture “The Fracking Facts” will take place at 15h30 on Sunday 8 May 2011, but there are another eighteen lectures by worldwide authorities on a variety of topics throughout the week-long Scifest Africa schedule. And this public lecture series is just one of countless events, activities and exhibitions at Scifest this year – celebrating its 15th anniversary with the most comprehensive programme ever for visitors of all ages – with SASOL, Old Mutual, the Netherlands Embassy and Department of Science and Technology as sponsors!
The full programme is available on www.scifest.org.za and direct telephonic contact can be made on (046)603 1106 for all bookings. Be there and find out exactly what the fracking facts are for yourself!
Shale gas drilling likely to be banned in France | EurActiv
April 20, 2011
Shale gas drilling likely to be banned in France | EurActiv.
Shale gas drilling likely to be banned in France
Published: 12 April 2011
The French government has backed a draft bill that would ban shale gas
drilling in the country, citing fears that the extraction method is a
risk to water quality. However, for other countries like Poland, shale
gas has become a national priority to win independence from Russian
imports. EurActiv France reports.
MPs from the ruling centre-right UMP party tabled the bill in the
National Assembly using an accelerated procedure. As a result, it will
only be examined in a single reading in the Assembly and the Senate.
If adopted, the text would suspend drilling permits granted in March
2010 to Total, GDF Suez, and Schuepbach Energy by former Environment
Minister Jean-Louis Borloo.
A shale gas drilling ban is also supported by the opposition Socialist
Party, which presented its own alternative text with the same aim.
In March, the French government had prolonged a moratorium on shale
gas drilling until June.
This had followed protests opposing the drilling method, notably in
the village of Villeneuve-de-Berg in southern France, with over 20,000
people voicing their opposition chanting “No gazaran!” Shale gas
drilling near the town had been planned for the end of 2011.
Scientists relieved, oil business fears red tape
After the announcement of the suspension of drilling, researchers at
the hydro-science centre at the University of Montpellier said they
were reassured. In the event of shale gas drilling, Montpellier’s
region “and all the water reserves close to the drilling area would
have been seriously threatened,” said researcher Françoise Elbaz.
“There is always a technological risk. In going back up, the drill can
release toxic gases such as the radioelements naturally contained in
the rocks,” she said. “And the authorities would have to cut off the
water supply.”
No such drilling has yet taken place in France, but researchers cite
the example of the city of Pittsburgh in the United States. Elbaz says
that following the use of chemicals to fracture the rock and ensure
permeability, the waters of the city have reached a salinity level
inappropriate for consumption.
During a presentation of his company’s annual results last February,
the director-general of Total, Christophe Margerie, said he was
“annoyed by the noise” surrounding shale gas. He expressed frustration
with excessive concern about the safety of drilling, saying “it’s good
to talk about the problems this can pose – if one day there are some –
but today, there are none”.
Margerie also raised fears that red tape could hinder production.
“[If] we need to ask the authorisation to one day ask for
authorisation, we’re going to start falling into useless paperwork,”
he said.
EU to assess shale gas potential in Europe
If the law is passed, the French debate on shale gas should be closed,
but the discussion continues at the European level.
Last February, European leaders agreed that “Europe’s potential for
sustainable extraction and use of conventional and unconventional
(e.g. shale gas, oil shale) fossil fuel resources should be assessed”.
A report by the consultancy firm McKinsey – commissioned by major gas
giants Gazprom, Centrica and others – claimed that shale gas could
meet the continent’s energy needs for 30 years.
Cuadrilla Resources, a British energy company, has begun exploratory
drilling near Blackpool, Lancashire. Drilling of shale gas is already
taking place near Gdansk, Poland.
For certain European countries, Poland in the lead, the drilling of
shale gas is seen as an alternative to Russian gas, which would allow
for greater energy independence.
GDACC 
