Hydraulic fracturing fingered in oil well blowout (Alberta)

Workers clean up the aftermath of an oil spill in a farmer´s field 25-kilometres west of Innisfail January 13, 2012.  Provincial regulators believe hydraulic fracturing at a well about 1 km away from the affected pumpjack cause the rupture. Photo courtesy,  Alberta Surface Rights Group

Hydraulic fracturing fingered in oil well blowout

Oil sprayed on farmer’s land near Innisfail

By Dina O'Meara,

Calgary Herald

January 17, 2012

CALGARY - Hydraulic fracturing of an oil well in southern Alberta could have caused an oil well blowout a kilometre away, according to provincial regulators.

Friday afternoon, a landowner in the Garrington area west of Innisfail spotted a pumpjack spewing what appeared to be oil and chemicals onto his neighbour's field.

Black fluid from the well sprayed 15 metres in the air until the man was able to alert a hydraulic fracturing crew working on a nearby well for Midway Energy.

They halted operations at the site, then shut down the Wild Stream Exploration pumpjack.

The Energy Resource Conservation Board was alerted about 5: 30 p.m. Friday by the Alberta Surface Rights Group at the behest of the landowner.

"We don't know the details yet . . . but my understanding is that it appears the fracturing process affected the other well," said an ERCB spokeswoman, Cara Tobin.

The incident could have repercussions around North America as the industry grapples with rising public discontent over rapidly increasing use of the technology to unlock shale gas and oil reserves.

Fluids blasted deep into the earth under high pressure appear to have intersected underground with the second well, forcing oil up through the well bore at explosive rates.

Read more here

Propane for fracking?

The process known as fracking has been met with fierce opposition. It has been suspended or banned in some parts of North America and in other countries.

A couple of documentaries – Gasland and Burning Water (Rosebud Alberta) - have increased the public’s awareness of this topic.

Some of the concerns relate to water. Both the huge amounts of water that are required in a frac job as well as fears that the process will end up damaging aquifers and ground water.

A new approach, using propane instead of water, was in the news the other day.

It may (or may not) solve one of the problems, but I doubt this is the end of the story.

Calgary-based GasFrac offers propane substitutes for water in shale fracking

By Anna Driver,

Reuters

Calgary Herald

November 22, 2011

HOUSTON — Many controversies surround hydraulic fracturing of underground shale deposits in the quest for oil and gas, but a small Canadian oilfield services company has pioneered a way around one of them: the use of prodigious amounts of water in the process.

“Fracking” generally involves blasting millions of gallons of water down a shale well to free up oil and natural gas, and then the water needs to be disposed of because it may contain toxic drilling byproducts like heavy metals.

Much of the water required for a so-called frack job is sourced from lakes, rivers or city water systems, and water is in short supply in some drilling areas, such as drought-plagued Texas.

Calgary-based GasFrac Energy Services Inc is winning customers, including Chevron Corp, by using a flammable propane gel instead of the water, chemicals and sand typically blasted into rock or tight sand formations to release trapped oil and gas.

One benefit of the growing technology is that no water is used.

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Fracking pushback opens up energy firms

The topic of fracking and its possible effects on groundwater continues to show up locally, nationally and internationally.

There was an article in yesterday’s Calgary Herald and there have been several other articles in the Alberta media during September.

Fracking pushback opens up energy firms

Fear of losing access to resources spurs firms to action

By Braden Reddall,
Reuters/Calgary Herald
September 26, 2011

John Pinkerton, who runs shale gas producer Range Resources Corp., has no time for fracking secrecy, and his notoriously tight-lipped industry is opening up a bit for fear of a regulatory crackdown.

Much of the public concern surrounding hydraulic fracturing stemmed from the scanty disclosure of the chemicals in the frac fluid that makes it all work. Oilfield services companies cite proprietary reasons for holding back their recipes.

"That whole competitive thing is the biggest bunch of bunk I ever heard, and I think the services companies ought to be ashamed of themselves," Range's chief executive told investors this month. "It has nothing to do with competitiveness."

Read more here

Fracking lawsuit could set precedent

Intimidation charges laid against Blood Tribe trio over oil fracking site protest

Lethbridge locals protest fracking