Fracking fears spur review of oilpatch regulations
Provinces committed to registry to disclose use of chemicals
By Rebecca Penty,
Calgary Herald;
With Files From Dan Healing
December 30, 2011
The Alberta government is pushing ahead with a regulatory overhaul to handle an expected boom in light oil production from resource plays, attributed to the application of advanced oilfield technology.
Energy Minister Ted Morton is committing the province to updating its rules, amid public concern across the continent about the safety of multi-stage hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, which is being widely employed to tap previously unproductive reservoirs.
"We have the opportunity here to be leaders in the safe and responsible development of unconventional oil and gas," Morton said in a year-end interview.
"The Americans are a little bit further down the road than we are and they've had some success stories but also some failures."
Hydraulic fracturing typically involves forcing large amounts of water, mixed with chemicals and sand, down a well at high pressure.
The activity creates cracks in the impermeable rock that are propped open with the sand, to make paths for oil or natural gas that's pushed up the well bore to the surface.
