Oops: Plenty of Gas But no Freaking Fracking Water

The conventional wisdom tells us that unlimited quantities of natural gas and oil are available in formerly untappable deposits, using new fracking technology.  Like the CW on coal use,  the grand vision runs afoul of pesky biological organisms and their petulant demands for “drinking water” and “food”.

It’s possible that innovations will overcome some of the barriers, but, as always, one can assume there will be a cost – and that, as well, must be included in predictions of unlimited fossil fuel extraction.

LA Times:

Ten gas deposits “sit atop aquifers that are being withdrawn at rates that far exceed their natural recharge rate,” the report found. They include California’s Monterey formation, which covers the southwest coastal region around Los Angeles and inland near Bakersfield, and others in the Rockies and Texas.

Limited water in areas of the U.S. with promising gas deposits poses considerable challenges and risk to companies operating there, including increased regulation and costs and the possible loss of reputation, the study found.

Right now, the U.S. and Canada are the only countries fracking for shale gas, though many others are exploring the idea, said Paul Reig, an environmental scientist and the report’s lead author. China has the largest reserves of any country, but each of its six major shale deposits comes with challenges to water access from such factors as seasonal variability, population density and drought.

The report’s authors recommended that government officials and industry assess the risks fracking could pose to local water resources and that companies work to reduce their use of fresh water.

Reig said he found that companies were already working toward lessening their demand for fresh water by fracking with brackish water or treated wastewater, for example.

Katie Brown, a spokeswoman for the industry group Energy in Depth, said that overall, oil and gas development has little effect on water resources. “Water use is important, but even in the most prolific oil and gas states, producers only account for a fraction of 1% of their state’s total water use,” she said.

But Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, said looking at the oil and gas industry’s use of water by state or region is misleading. Because most fracking is done in a limited area, it “can use nearly 100% of local water supply,” he said. “Its environmental impacts can be devastating.”

Financial Times:

The boom in first gas and then oil production in the US has encouraged hopes that other countries with substantial shale reserves – some larger than those in the US – will be able to establish similar industries.

Paul Reig, who leads the WRI’s work mapping water availability, said the wide variation in conditions between different shale regions could be a significant challenge for development.

“If any company is basing its expectation of managing demand for water on its experience in the US, it could be in for a big surprise,” he said.

The WRI says its study is the first publicly open assessment of water availability at all potential commercial shale gas and tight oil resources worldwide.

In the US, hydraulic fracturing and drilling accounts for only a tiny percentage of all water withdrawals, but some shale reserves are in areas where competition for water is very high.

In Johnson County, Texas, for example, water withdrawals for shale gas development in 2008 were responsible for almost one third of the county’s freshwater use, the WRI study said.

Many shale companies use fresh water in their operations but the WRI study underlines the importance of looking at alternatives such as brackish or recycled water, said Dr Cal Cooper, director of special projects and emerging technologies at Apache Corporation, a US gas and oil group. “It’s important to find something other than just fresh water,” he said.

Melissa Stark, managing director for new energy at Accenture, the consultancy, said water use was slowing down shale developments in China. Efforts were under way to make more use of waste water from industry or homes.

Christian Science Monitor:

To be sure, exploration in China is already underway. Much of the drilling thus far has taken place in the Sichuan basin in central China, with over 100 wells drilled to date. WRI says that Sichuan basin is in an area experiencing “medium to high” water stress.

Worse, nearly the entire extent of the Tarim basin, another promising shale gas region in the northwestern province of Xinjiang, suffers from “extremely high” water stress. The dusty region has groundwater shortages, and many of its feeble rivers dry up during certain times of the year.

Drilling and developing shale gas requires massive amounts of fresh water. In Pennsylvania, for example, an average shale gas well can use 4.4 million gallons of waterduring the drilling process, or the equivalent to the daily water consumption of 11,000 American families. That is not necessarily a problem in wet areas, but the effect is much worse in drier areas.