17.03.2016
Water Protection, Operations
The latest skirmishes over hydraulic fracturing in Florida and California are, at their core, about water. Many fracking-related spills have been recorded, and opponents say that such incidents pose unacceptable threats to water supplies. But the[...]read more
11.02.2016
Water Protection, Climate Impact
This recently published study (weblink) considered the fugitive emissions of methane from former oil and gas exploration and production wells drilled to exploit conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs onshore in the UK. This is important since[...]read more
18.01.2016
Water Protection
Update 28 January 2016: press release in English. The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) published a comprehensive study (in German) on 18 January 2016 that suggests large potential for shale gas[...]read more
08.01.2016
Water Protection
The objective of this paper is to review different risk assessment techniques applicable to onshore unconventional oil and gas production to determine the risks to water quantity and quality associated with hydraulic fracturing and produced water[...]read more
09.07.2015
Water Protection, Induced Seismicity, Climate Impact, Operations
The report “The environment and shale gas exploration Results of studies on the soil-water environment, ambient air, acoustic, climate, process fluids and wastes" which was commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Environment and published in[...]read more
11.06.2015
Legislation, Generic, Water Protection
acatech - the German National Academy of Science and Engineering has published a position paper (in German) about applications, economic perspectives and environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing. The academy´s project group, led by Rolf[...]read more
10.06.2015
Water Protection
On 4th June the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its long-awaited "Draft Assessment on the Potential Impacts to Drinking Water Resources from Hydraulic Fracturing Activities". The draft study comes in[...]read more
26.05.2015
Water Protection, Legislation
The members of the expert group on hydraulic fracturing chemicals within the Water Chemistry Society, German Chemical Society (GDCh), together with scientists from North America, have commented on the German draft law on hydraulic fracturing, which[...]read more
08.05.2015
Water Protection
Like other rock formations, shales can contain high concentrations of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), e.g. radium, uranium and thorium. NORM as a potential contaminant for ground water may be released to the environment by[...]read more
24.04.2015
Water Protection
Fracture propagation during shale gas hydraulic fracturing Kim and Moridis, International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences. March 2015. Link to abstract. A recently published study on numerical simulations of fracture propagation[...]read more
31.03.2015
Water Protection
The full disclosure of chemicals used in fracturing fluids has been urged for for years by scientists, politicians, and the public. At the same time, manufacturers of fracturing fluids claim trade secrets to protect some of their chemicals from[...]read more
19.03.2015
Water Protection
A systematic evaluation of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids is necessary for a thorough assessment of the potential environmental impact of these substances. Beyond that, the complex composition of flowback water needs to be scrutinised[...]read more
17.12.2014
Water Protection
By Dr. Bernd Wiese The paper by Cai & Ofterdinger (2014) aims to identify the conditions under which hydraulic fracturing of the Bowland Shale in central Britain could contaminate groundwater in St. Bees Sandstone (600-1000 m below ground[...]read more
30.10.2014
Water Protection
A central theme of all conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells is well integrity. The concept of “well integrity failure“ in connection with shale gas production (see SHIP News) is based on the assumption that either the borehole between[...]read more
16.10.2014
Water Protection, Operations
The origin of methane found in private water wells in shale gas regions of the US has been discussed for many years. Several possibilities or mechanisms have been suggested, such as 1) in situ naturally generated methane (e.g. in peat and/or swamp[...]read more
26.09.2014
Water Protection, Operations
The biggest environmental concern with shale gas exploration and production is water contamination. Whether or not hydraulic fracturing causes methane contamination of drinking water remains to be proved (Davies, 2011), although the possibility[...]read more
25.09.2014
Water Protection
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released its new Produced Waters Geochemical Database and Map Viewer, an online platform that provides valuable information on a comprehensive list of chemicals, including major elements, trace elements,[...]read more
13.09.2014
Water Protection
Governments and businesses using hydraulic fracturing to develop shale gas could face intense water competition in the world’s largest reserves, according to a new report by the World Resources Institute* (WRI). The report is the first publicly[...]read more
01.08.2014
Generic, Water Protection, Induced Seismicity, Climate Impact, Hydraulic Fracturing
On July 30, the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) published its second survey [available in German] on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing for the exploration and production of natural gas with particular emphasis on shale gas[...]read more
30.07.2014
Water Protection
Author: Dr. Bernd Wiese A short summary of the paper: Flewelling et al., 2013, propose a worst-case scenario approach to determine the maximum possible hydraulic fracture height in tight oil and gas formations. The analysis is carried out in two[...]read more
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