NETL has stated nothing of concern has thus far been found for preliminary results of its ongoing hydraulic fracturing study at Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale.
On July 19, 2013, the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) released a preliminary statement of its ongoing hydraulic fracturing study at two Pennsylvania drilling sites. NETL stated that it is far too early to make any firm claims. The first-of-its kind study involves a comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts of shale gas development at industry-provided test sites in southwestern Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale formation.
The NETL study monitors air, land, and water resources through different gas production phases. To this end, NETL has been collecting, analyzing, and validating data pertinent to air quality, fugitive methane, pressure variations, and water and gas chemistry, among others. NETL injected special fracturing fluid tracers to monitor migration through the shale formation.
NETL has defined two main objectives for its study:
- Assess the impact of shale gas production on ambient air quality
- Verify the existence of zonal-isolation between gas-producing formations and drinking-water aquifers after the hydraulic fracturing process
In a fact sheet released in April, NETL detailed the ongoing project, in terms of planned and completed activities. The project involves a natural-gas-liquids rich site at Washington County and a dry gas site at Greene County. The former, offset from current production sites, is being monitored to assess environmental parameters before well construction and drilling to record baseline data. The assessment will continue through subsequent drilling phases to detect changes. The Greene County site, an active drilling area, has six horizontal and two vertical wells that are currently under NETL assessment. Its vertical wells are considered optimal for micro-seismic monitoring during hydraulic fracturing of the horizontal wells.
The Greene County site comprises an Upper Devonian production field at a depth of 4,000 feet, about half the depth of the Marcellus Shale, and at least 3,000 feet beneath drinking water aquifers. Industry has provided NETL access the shallow Upper Devonian wells, facilitating proper assessment of potential communication with hydraulically fractured portions of the deeper Marcellus Shale wells.
The study could provide regulators with unbiased, science-based information for decision making. Additionally, it would enable industry to develop enhanced environmental monitoring methods and devise appropriate technologies or practices to mitigate negative environmental impacts. The final study results are expected at the end of this calendar year.
July 22, 2013 via Energy Solutions Forum
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