Stanislaw NAGY, Ph.D., D.Sc. Professor of Natural Gas Engineering Workshop on shale gas in the EU...

Stanislaw NAGY, Ph.D., D.Sc.Professor of Natural Gas Engineering

Workshop on shale gas in the EU its impact on the environmental & energy policy…– Polish Experience in Shale Gas Extraction

Brussels, Nov 9, 12 1

PETITION ANALYSIS 1378/2011, 0886/2011, 5294/2011 FOR DG INTERNAL POLICIES AND DG EXTERNAL POLICIES OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT


• Petition from Poland demands revocation of all approved exploration and mining concessions, and ban on hydraulic fracturing, as well as geological storage and sequestration of CO2 inside the European Union sent to the President of the Republic of Poland on 18th April 2012, and its copy has been also delivered to Mr. Martin Schulz, the European Parliament President on 24th April 2012.

• The other petition from Poland date 07/12/2011 is related to a moratorium on shale gas production

The petition concerning the Novi Pazar region in north-eastern part of Bulgaria submitted in July 2011


Petition from Poland dated April 24, 2012

• The demands directly linked to the shale gas exploration and exploitation are the following (please enumerate those of the demands which are directly linked with our subject):

• Ban on hydraulic fracturing in Poland• Ban on usage of CCS technology• Ban on construction of new opencast lignite mines• Ban on GMO• Ban on hydropower plant construction in the Nature 2000

regions• Ban on wireless transceiver installation close to human centres• Ban on obligatory vaccination • Introduction of Professor Nazimek technology in CO2 fuel

production• Revocation of all exploration and production concessions for

unconventional gas resources


Petitioners arguments

• The arguments presented by the petitioner relate only to the geological concessions for hydrocarbon production.

• All other demands are not justified in the submitted petition

• Arguments for concession revocations do not contain any scientific and law reasoning and should be in my opinion rejected – some elemets of environmental friendly technology is presented in next slides


The petition from Poland dated 07/12/2011 is related to a moratorium on shale gas production

The petitions demands moratorium on shale gas production in all Member States of the European Union. The petitioner argues that process of shale fracturing has so far been used on a large scale in the United States.


• Arguments presented in the petition suggest following negative environmental impacts related to shale gas exploration process:– Mordant substances necessary for the

"liquefying" of some parts of the are released in the air;

– Pathogenic, mutagenic and carcinogenic substances, dangerous for human health are released the greatest part of which cannot degrade or neutralize naturally;

The petition concerning withrowal concession the Novi Pazar region in north-eastern part of Bulgaria dated July 2011 -1


The petition concerning the Novi Pazar region in north-eastern part of Bulgaria submitted in July 2011 -2

– Breaking the shale gas provokes natural disasters like earthquakes;

– Explosive and flammable effluents are released during the effervescence as well as during the refinement on spot;

– High levels of radiation are determined ( 2 000 times above the norm ) around the places where the shale gas has been extracted;

– Air, soils and water are polluted;– Some of the substances that are found in the

cultivated areas are barium, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compound, sulfur oxides, methane, strontium, boron, lithium, radium, xylene, fonnaldehyde, ethane, benzene, etc


Arguments against revocation of petition

• Arguments presented in points 1-8 are not confirmed with any scientific proofs. In majority of cases, these arguments are from American and European press releases.

• Several academic institutions still investigate possible environmental impact of shale gas technology, but there is no a single evidence of violation of right to live in healthy and favorable environment caused by the shale gas technology


Environmental impact

• managing surface (land) use impacts,• regulation of hydraulic fracturing – chemical

disclosure issues,• water flowback & withdrawal management, • flowback & produced water storage, recycling &

disposition,• surface and groundwater supply protection, • waste management,• community emergency planning,• air emissions, vehicle traffic.

„GASLAND” - lies


Press data 1


Press data 2


Documentation of incidents in USA

• A documented records related to incidents during drilling and extraction process of unconventional gas in USA are given in Table 10, which summarizes the results of the review study done by MIT team (MIT, 2011).

• Of the 43 incidents reviewed by reporting agencies, about 50% were related to the groundwater contamination with natural gas, as the drilling operation result.

• Generally, this incidents appear to be related to inadequate cementing of casing into wellbores, allowing natural gas to migrate from lower formations into groundwater zones. Correctly, cementing wells prevent this from occurring.

List of cases related to exploitation of unconventional gas from classic reservoirs after MIT (2011) in 2006-2010 in U.S.A.

Event Nos. %

Gas flow to groundwater 20 47%

Contamination of drilling site 14 33%

Problem with discharge of post-fracturing waste water

4 9%

Problems related to water intaking for fracturing

2 4%

Air pollution 1 2%

Gaseous eruptions in well 2 4%Brussels, Nov 9, 12 16

Documentation of incidents (cont)

• The second major types of incidents are on-site surface spills.

• No cases of direct invasion of shallow water zones by fracture fluids during the fracturing process have been recorded.

• These incidents exhibit that there have been real issues with the integrity of natural gas drilling operations.

• The number of incidents should be placed in the context of the several thousands of natural gas wells drilled over the period under review.

• some small proportions of drilling operations are clearly creating significant environmental impact, and risk to public health and safety

Really impact of technology on Environment & HSE

• The discussed cases should be compared & analysed with an immense number of gas wells drilled in the U.S.A. – tens of thousands each year.

• As a result, we conclude that the influence of this type of environmental incidents is generally small/sometimes moderate.

• Obviously attention should be always paid to all environmental impacts as they may indirectly, to some minimal extent affect human health.


Technology of gas extraction

• Gas exploitation must be preceded by drilling the wells. By the half of the last decade vertical wells prevailed, though for the last five years mainly horizontal wells have been mostly used. Horizontal wells are drilled perpendicular to the existing network of fractures in the shale deposits.

• The present technologies offer possibility of drilling up to 32 wells from one site

• The drilling operations are followed by multistage fracturing.


Spcace for drilling pits

• The environmental issue connected with limiting the space occupied by drilling has been solved since 2007. This is one of the subjects frequently discussed in press in relation to prior technologies used for gas exploitation from 'shallow' shale resources, mainly in Texas and Marcellus Field (Shale Gas Primer, 2009).


Slickwater technology

• The 'slickwater' technology usually makes use of a greater quantity of water than the mixture, i.e. from 4 000 m3 to 20000 m3 for fracturing in one well.

• This quantity will be lowered with the introduction of new technologies (King, 2012).


Fracking operations

• Fracturing operations generate fractures along the well (perpendicular to the horizontal well axis). They increase the surface of contact with shales thus stimulating gas flux. The formed fractures propagate to over 300 m distance from the well (Davies 2012).

• The vertical range of penetration usually does not exceed 200 m (up and down from the fractures layer) (Shale Gas Primer, 2009, Davies 2012).


Fracturing proces efficiency

• The fracture can be protected against its closing by 'proppant'. Some literature analysis reveals that the efficiency of simulation can be increased by another distribution of fractures, formed by orthogonal positioning of natural and artificial fractures.

• Fracturing is usually performed with the use of slickwater-type fracturing fluid (Shale Gas Primer, 2009, WEO SP, 2012).


Chemicals in fracing fluid

• It is assumed in the process that friction is maximally lowered, usually with the use of polyacrylic gels. The biocides, surfactants and inhibitors of mineral precipitation are also elements of slickwater.

• The biocides fight against living organisms, which may limit the flow. All those additives make on the whole about 1% of the slickwater. The present substances are commonly used in households and kitchen ('green additives').


Chemicals in fracing fluid

• Other chemical compositions used in the past were, e.g.: benzene, chromium. Those components are toxic and it was feared that they could potentially contaminate water.

• At present they are hardly ever used in the fracturing operations on behalf of friendly chemistry ('green additives'), known from chemistry used in food industry (King, 2012, Shale Gas Primer, 2009.


ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

POLISH EXPERIENCE (2011)


ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING TREATMENT PERFORMED ON THE ŁEBIEŃ LE-2H WELL (PGI POLAND)

• The major aim of works of a consortium led by the PGI-NRI was to assess environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing carried out in August 2011 on the Łebień LE-2H exploratory well operated by the Lane Energy Poland company of the 3Legs Resources Group.

• The studies comprised seismic monitoring, measurements of gaseous emissions and noise and analyses of soil gas, hydraulic fracturing fluid and surface and ground water.


Location of wells Łebień LE-1/2H (on structure map)


Monitoring of Lubień well fracturing (2011)


Location of Łebień LE-2H well and parameters

• The Łebień LE-2H well is localized at Rekowo, Nowa Wieś Lęborska commune (Pomeranian Voivodeship).

• The well site area is 3.74 hectares in size, situated by the road from Łebień to Rekowo Lęborskie.

• The drilling rig has its own water intake to cover needs for cooling and hydro-fracturing operations.

• The site is situated far from any areas under legal protection.

© PGI POLAND Report 2011


Łebień LE-2H well - cont

• Within the frame of exploratory works, a vertical well named LE-1 was made down to 3.5 km depth and hydraulic fracturing treatment was performed on a small scale.

• Drilling of the second well with a horizontal section was completed in June 2011.

• Total depth of the well is 4,075 m and the horizontal section is 1,000 m long.

• The hydraulic fracturing was performed in the horizontal section of that well on August 19-28, 2011.



Results of study

• The hydraulic fracturing treatment did not generate any air pollution.

• Some increases of noise level were noted in time of hydraulic fracturing.

• The studies did not show any impact of the treatment on quality of surface and ground water nor decrease in ground water resources in the well site which would result from water consumption for the needs of the operation.



Air monitoring (Lebien report)

lp. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Reference concentration *

Case 3 4 5 2 1 6 7Date 19.VII.2011 19.VIII.211 30.VIII.201

1VIII-IX

2011

VIII-IX

2011

VIII-IX

2011

VIII-IX

2011

Measure analizatorDraeger CMS

analizator

DraegerCMS

anallzator

Draeger CMS

Passive sampler

Passive sampler

Passive sampler

Passive sampler

SO2 µg/m3

< 517 <517 < 517 6.05 6,3 5.9 20,2 350

NO2 <646 <646 <646 7,9 5,71 4,56 3,99 200

benzene < 259 < 259 < 259 0.58 1,03 0,6 0,59 30

methane < 25 860 < 25860 < 25860 - - - - 3000CO < 6 465 <6465 < 6 465 - . - . 30000H2S < 259 <259 < 259 . . . . 2

0CO2 ppm 450 380 370 . . - .

•Rozp. Ministra Srodowiska z dnia 26 stycznia 2010 r.w sprawie wartości odnieslenia dla niektorych substancji w powietrzu, Oz.U. 2020 Nr 16 pOl. 87


Impact on noise

• Work of high power diesel engines was the major source of noise.

• Temporary increases in noise levels as measured at the fencing on the well site were equal 77.5 dB.

• Along with distance from the sources, the noise level was decreasing down to about 53.8 dB in proximity of village houses, that is values not exceeding permissible levels for daytime hours (56dB).



Impact on Soil gas

• The hydraulic fracturing treatment did not generate any noticeable changes in composition of soil gas, especially in concentration of methane and radioactive radon.

• The presence of methane was also not in aeration zone of water intake in the well site area.

• It follows that the hydraulic fracturing treatment did not open routes for migration of gas from deep-seated horizons in the well area and even in direct proximity of the drilling rig.

© PGI POLAND Report 2011Brussels, Nov 9, 12 36

Concentration pof soil gas (ppm) (INIG, 2011)


Landscape

• The Łebień LE-2H well became an element of landscape of the Nowa Wieś Lęborska commune for several months.

• In opinion of the local community, the well was not blemishing the beauty of the landscape in any significant way whereas flame rising over flare stack turned to be some kind of tourist attraction.

© PGI POLAND Report 2011Brussels, Nov 9, 12 38

Area around well


Fracturing vs earth quake (Fidzi)Sesmic monitoring (Geophysical institute of Polish Academy of Science)


Flowback fluids

• Used fracturing fluids that return to the surface appeared to be changeable in properties but generally characterized by significant content of chemicals and toxicity.

• These flowback fluids were under strict control which precluded any leaks to the environment.

• The recycling of flowback fluids made possible reuse of their large part in other hydraulic fracturing jobs and, in this way, saving water.

• Some liquid waste was sent to be subjected to specialized treatment methods.



Waste & Environment

• The treatment resulted in origin of small amount of solid waste which were disposed at the recultivated communal waste landfill.

• In large part the solid waste consists of unused quartz sand.



Water parameters during facking monitoring (Lebien well)


Post – frac fluid compositions in time (Lebien well report)

14/11/14

14/11/17

14/11/18

14/11/19

14/11/23

14/11/26

14/11/27

14/11/30

pH - 6,35 5,80 5,73 6,63 6,72 6,01 6,15 7,47

Conduct.

mS/cm

12,14

13,76

15,41

53,10

123,40

49,60

45,40

11,93alkalinity mgCaCO3 173 199 22L 293 417 260 202 136

Total Organic Carbon

mg/1

82

34

39

67

129

74

74

11

phenol index mg/1 8 8 6 15 20 15 10 <2

cyanides mg/1 <0,2 <0,2 <0,2 <0,5 <1,0 <0,5

<0,5 <0,2

SPCA

mg/1 <0,5 8 6 13 31 11 11 1

F mg/1 0,4 1,2 1,8 6,1 4,9 3,1 2,9 1,6

Cl mg/1 4100 4500 5201!) 20000 48000 18000 16000 3800NO2 mg/1 0,5 0,8 0,6 1,8 4,2 1,7 1,6 0,6

Br mg/1 25 40 50 200 500 180 160 40

NO3 mg/1 0,5 0,5 0,5 2,2 7,1 2,3 2,5 0,4

HPO4 mg/1 <3 <3 <3 <30 <90 <30

<30 <3

S04 mg/1 52 <5 <5 <50 <150 <SO

<50 29

HCO3 mg/1 211 243 270 357 509 317 246 166

NH4 mg/1 9 12 14 57 159 52 46 11B mg/1 2,5 3,8 4,0 15,3 14,1 14,4 12,9 2,7

Ba mg/1 5,3 10,4 14,7 75,4 217,9 70,1 60,8 13,1Ca mg/1 318 531 620 2793 7568 2648 2340 529

Cr mg/1 <0,03 <0,03 <0,03 <0,03 <0,3 <0,03 <0,03 <0,03Fe mg/1 23,4 17,4 17,6 11,7 22,2 22,3 19,7 2,4

K mg/1 82 123 130 228 536 276 255 51

Mg mg/1 31 51 62 265 759 248

217 50Brussels, Nov 9, 12 44

Surface water

• The studies did not show any impact of the treatment on quality of surface water.

• The hydraulic fracturing did not influence hydrological conditions in areas adjacent to the well site.

• There were no complains which would concern fluid waste discharge


Brussels, Nov 9, 12

45

Surface water – sampling data (Lebien wel report)


Ground water

• Despite of the use of almost 18,000 m3 from the water-bearing horizon, the hydraulic treatment did not resulted in decrease in ground water resources in the well site area.

• This was due to the fact that water was gathered for several months in quantities consistent with the water rights permit.


Brussels, Nov 9, 12

47

Ground water - cont

• The results of studies and measurements made till the second half of October 2011 did not show any adverse effects of the operations on ground water.

• Quality-control results for ground water in intake located in the well site area, that is at the point closest to the well, did not show an deterioration.


Brussels, Nov 9, 12

48

Ground water - cont

• All the operations carried in the well site area in that period (recycling of flowback fluids, storage of waste in leak-proof reservoirs, protection of land surface with concrete plates and liners made of plastic film) were conducted in a way minimizing risk of negative impact on ground water.

• No failures or breakdowns were reported possibilities to take place in the course of hydraulic fracturing operations.



Conclusions

• Technology & geology and environmental issues is not barrier for development of shale gas.

• Demands of petitioners shoud be rejected


Thank you for your attention !

Q&A ?

Stanislaw Nagy, Ph.D., D.Sc., P.E.AGH University of Science & Technology in CracowDrilling & Oil-Gas [email protected]


Stanislaw NAGY, Ph.D., D.Sc. Professor of Natural Gas Engineering Workshop on shale gas in the EU...

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