Fracking Quakes Shake the Shale Gas Industry

Published by MIT
Friday, January 20, 2012
By Peter Fairley

Well shutdowns prompted by fracking-induced seismicity may inspire technology tweaks.

Geophysicists are increasingly certain that expanding production of shale gas is responsible for a spate of minor earthquakes that have upset some communities and prompted authorities in Arkansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, and the U.K. to shut down some natural-gas operations. The question now, say the experts, is whether the underground operations causing the trouble should be scaled back or more closely monitored to minimize future quakes—and whether the relatively small quakes may yet have the potential to trigger truly destructive ones.

At least one shale gas producer is already talking change: U.K.-based Cuadrilla Resources, whose first project set off quakes near Blackpool last year.

Shale gas operations generate microseismicity in two ways. One is through hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," the underground blasts of water, sand, and chemicals used to release the natural gas trapped within shale deposits. Fracking is how Cuadrilla caused a quake that measured 2.3 on the Richter scale last April, according to an analysis by the firm's geophysical consultants.

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Isn't it about time the industry pulls its ugly head out of the hole in the ground and admit that 'unconventional methods' are not sound science?  It's perfectly clear to us that you cannot control nature, thus you cannot control the outcome(s) from unconventional methods.

unconventional methods = unconventional outcomes

4.0 earthquake strikes in northeast Ohio - related to injection of fracking wastewater

Associated Press

via Yahoo
Dec 31 2011

McDONALD, Ohio (AP) — Officials say they believe the latest earthquake activity in northeast Ohio is related to the injection of wastewater into the ground near a fault line, creating enough pressure to cause seismic activity.

The wastewater comes from drilling operations that use the so-called fracking process to...

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U.S. Government Confirms Link Between Earthquakes and Hydraulic Fracturing

Written by John Daly

Tuesday, 08 November 2011 oilprice.com On 5 November an earthquake measuring 5.6 rattled Oklahoma and was felt as far away as Illinois. Until two years ago Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes a year, but in 2010, 1,047 quakes shook the state. Why? In Lincoln County, where most of this past weekend's seismic incidents were centered, there are 181 injection wells, according to Matt Skinner, an official from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency which oversees oil and gas production in the state. Cause and effect? The practice of injecting water into deep rock formations causes earthquakes, both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Geological Survey have concluded. The U.S. natural gas industry pumps a mixture of water and assorted chemicals deep underground to shatter sediment layers containing natural gas, a process called hydraulic fracturing, known more informally as “fracking.” While environmental groups have primarily focused on fracking’s capacity to pollute underground water, a more ominous byproduct emerges from U.S. government studies – that forcing fluids under high pressure deep underground produces increased regional seismic activity. As the U.S. natural gas industry mounts an unprecedented and expensive advertising campaign to convince the public that such practices are environmentally benign, U.S. government agencies have determined otherwise. According to the U.S. Army’s Rocky Mountain Arsenal website, the RMA drilled a deep well for disposing of the site’s liquid waste after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “concluded that this procedure is effective and protective of the environment.” According to the RMA, “The Rocky Mountain Arsenal deep injection well was constructed in 1961, and was drilled to a depth of 12,045 feet” and 165 million gallons of Basin F liquid waste, consisting of “very salty water that includes some metals, chlorides, wastewater and toxic organics” was injected into the well during 1962-1966. Continue reading... Note the phrase, “Once the link between the fluid injection and the earlier series of earthquakes was established.”

Fracking Fluid Disposal Investigated As Cause of West Virginia Earthquakes

Source:Water Contamination from Shale

Could an operation related to hydraulic fracturing in West Virginia be responsible for more than half a dozen earthquakes that have hit the state’s southern Braxton County this year? According to a report from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, one state geologists says it’s possible.

This past April, Baxton County experienced a 3.4 magnitude earthquake. Since, then the area has been the site of at least six more, West Virginia Public Broadcasting said. Most were around a 2.7 magnitude – not enough to cause damage but enough for people to feel them.

State geologist and West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey Director, Michael Hohn told the network that the area is not known for seismic activity, and is generally “quiet.” So the upsurge in earthquake activity is both surprising and alarming.

According to West Virginia Public Broadcasting, a town in Braxton County called Frametown is home to holding tanks that store water used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has permitted Chesapeake Energy to use a nearby well to dispose of the drilling fluid. About ten million gallons of drilling fluid into the well since spring of 2009. Both the state and Chesapeake are trying to determine if the drilling fluid injections are releated to the recent earthquakes.

Meanwhile, the company is still using the well to dispose of water from Marcellus Natural Gas Drilling. Local wells have also not been tested to see if the earthquakes have caused the disposal well to crack or leak fluid.

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