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Assessing environmental footprints induced by geo-energy exploitation: the shale gas case
Abstract
This Special Issue describes the main outcomes from the SHEER (SHale gas Exploration and Exploitation induced Risks) project, a 3 year EC Horizon 2020 funded investigation into environmental risk associated with shale oil and gas development within the European Union. A key feature of the programme of work has been the independent monitoring of a shale gas well at Wysin, Poland, through a network of seismic, groundwater and air quality measurement arrays and shallow borehole sensors both in advance of and subsequent to hydraulic fracturing operations. In conjunction with the environmental monitoring programme, a multi-hazard risk assessment technique has been applied to shale gas operations to identify and assess the likelihood of occurrence of incidents and their potential impacts on the surrounding environment. Given the limited development of shale oil and gas in Europe experience out-with the European Union, particularly in the USA and Canada, has been integrated into the project. A further element of the research has been the dissemination of results through academic publications, a large number of presentations to conferences and at SHEER events in Italy, Poland and the UK. This introductory paper provides a brief synopsis of the research and development that has been carried out, with a primary focus on the best practice recommendations, policy guidelines and key learning that have been developed during the course of the project. Policy guidelines include issues of relevance to regulators and government in providing effective regulatory oversight of shale gas operations within the European Union. Recommendations for best practice are primarily related to the monitoring and evaluation of environmental risk in the development of shale gas within the European Union.
... The horizontal boreholes, beginning from the same drilling pad, extended some 1.7 km each in two opposite, west-south-west and east-north-east directions. The horizontal boreholes were drilled in June-July 2015 and September-October 2015, respectively, and fracked in June 2016 and July 2016, respectively ( [13] and the references therein). ...
... The call led to the financing of four research projects in 2015-2018. Among these four was the SHEER project (SHale gas Exploration and Exploitation induced Risks [15]), carried out by an international consortium of eight research institutions from seven countries [13]. SHEER aimed at developing best practices for assessing and mitigating the environmental footprint of shale gas exploration and exploitation. ...
Hydrofracturing, used for shale gas exploitation, may induce felt, even damaging earthquakes. On 15 June 2019, an Mw2.8 earthquake occurred, spatially correlated with the location of earlier exploratory hydrofracturing operations for shale gas in Wysin in Poland. However, this earthquake was atypical. Hydrofracturing-triggered seismicity mainly occurs during stimulation; occasionally, it continues a few months after completion of the stimulation. In Wysin, there were only two weaker events during two-month hydrofracturing and then 35 months of seismic silence until the mentioned earthquake occurred. The Wysin site is in Gdańsk Pomerania broader region, located on the very weakly seismically active Precambrian Platform. The historical documents, covering 1000 years, report no natural earthquakes in Gdańsk Pomerania. We conclude, therefore, that despite the never observed before that long lag time after stimulation, the Mw2.8 earthquake was triggered by hydrofracturing. It is possible that its unusually late occurrence in relation to the time of its triggering technological activity was caused by changes in stresses due to time-dependent deformation of reservoir shales. The Wysin earthquake determines a new time horizon for the effect of HF on the stress state, which can lead to triggering earthquakes. Time-dependent deformation and its induced stress changes should be considered in shall gas reservoir exploitation plans.
... Attracted by the perspective of industrial growth, researchers must not forget about all the negative impacts related to resource exploitation. In particular, the extraction of gas, coal, or copper often results in so-called triggered seismicity, which has a considerable negative influence on people and infrastructure, since surface vibrations generated by mining-induced seismic shocks can be equivalent to those resulting from small earthquakes in terms of energy and amplitude levels [1,2]. The impact of mining-triggered seismicity on infrastructure has become a research topic of numerous studies in active mining countries, like China, Slovenia, Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, Russia, and Poland [3][4][5][6][7]. ...
... Additionally, the paper presents the comparative analysis of the dynamic responses of the bridge to mining-induced tremors of various intensities, using three FE models: (1) untuned-with frictionless sliding in bearings, (2) tuned-with linear springs with stiffnesses adjusted based on experimental modal identification, and (3) proposed-benefitting from the elastic microslip preceding frictional macrosliding in pot bearings. ...
In this paper, a two-step tuning strategy of a finite element (FE) model of a bridge with pot bearings exposed to mining-triggered tremors of various intensities is proposed. In the study, a reinforced concrete bridge 160 m long is considered. Once the modal identification of the bridge was experimentally carried out based on low-energy ambient vibrations, the FE model was tuned by replacing the free-bearing sliding with a Coulomb friction-regularized model. This model of friction split the tangential relative displacement rates between contacting surfaces into a reversible elastic part and irreversible sliding. The elastic microslip (spring-like behavior) prior to macrosliding can be explained by the deformation of asperities (roughness of contacting surfaces on the microscopic scale). The proposed model allows for accurate sliding bearing performance simulation under both low-energy and high-energy mining-induced tremors. In the first step of the FE model tuning strategy, the elastic microslip constant was experimentally estimated based on the modal identification. In the second step, the macro-sliding friction parameter was implemented to address the realistic behavior of the bridge under mining-induced shocks. Finally, the dynamic responses of the bridge to mining-triggered tremors of various intensities were calculated and assessed using the untuned and tuned FE models. The analysis proved that the untuned model was not suitable for dynamic bridge assessment in the case of low-intensity tremors. The stresses obtained for this model turned out to be strongly underestimated. For shocks of higher intensity, frictionless sliding at the bearings gives a relatively good global estimation of the structure performance but undervalues its local response. The analysis also reveals that the tuned Coulomb friction-regularized model allows for the accurate simulation of sliding bearings under both low and high-energy mining-induced tremors.
... Presently, the document repository on the EPISODES Platform informs about 48 scientific publications acknowledging the TCS AH, EPISODES Platform and its resources. The integrated infrastructure, accessible to scientists on the EPISODES Platform, supports the development of new methods for assessing environmental impacts and mitigation of anthropogenic seismic hazards resulting from technological activities [e.g.Czarny et al., 2018;Garcia-Aristizabal et al., 2019;Gunning et al., 2019;Lasocki and Orlecka-Sikora, 2020;Leptokaropoulos and Lasocki, 2020;Orlecka-Sikora and Cielesta, 2020]. The episodes and applications integrated on the EPISODES Platform have been selected using strict quality and research utility criteria. ...
The problem of hazards induced by the exploitation of geo-resources focuses growing interest of science, industry, public administration, non-governmental organisations and the general public. Anthropogenic seismicity, i.e. the undesired dynamic rock mass response to geo-resources exploitation, is one of the examples of unwanted by-products of the technological operation of humans. The socio-economic impact of the induced seismicity is very significant. Induced earthquakes can cause material loss, injuries and even fatalities. Restricted access to data constitutes a barrier to assessing and mitigating the associated hazards. To respond to the need of the scientific community the Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards (TCS AH) has been created within the framework of the European Plate Observing System, a solid earth science European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). TCS AH is an open consortium of 13 European institutions. TCS AH provides access to a novel e-research infrastructure, the EPISODES Platform (former name: IS-EPOS platform) to foster both research and training on induced seismicity and geo-hazards related to the exploration and exploitation of geo-resources. The EPISODES Platform is connected to international data nodes which offer open access to multidisciplinary datasets, called episodes. Episodes comprise geoscientific and associated data from industrial activity along with a large set of embedded applications for their efficient data processing, analysis and visualization. The EPISODES Platform opens also the possibility to create new applications and combine implemented applications with the user's codes. The team-working features of the EPISODES Platform facilitate collaborative and interdisciplinary scientific research, public understanding of science, citizen science applications, knowledge dissemination, and the teaching of anthropogenic hazards related to geo-resource exploitation. This study presents the current results of the TCS AH research infrastructure integration and also indicates the benefits of their usage for science, education, and innovation.
... Despite the low-magnitude threshold resulting from the advanced monitoring and data-processing techniques (López-Comino et al., 2017), one could eventually link only two shallow, weak events with the in-depth technical operations (López-Comino et al., 2018). These monitoring results shed new light on the actual seismic risk induced by fracking (Gunning et al., 2019). ...
High-quality and open-access seismic data are of great importance for both research and increasing public awareness of actual seismic hazards and risks. We present four seismic networks that currently operate in Poland: the backbone Polish Seismological Network (PLSN), which monitors natural teleseismic events as well as regional events from Poland, and three networks that mainly serve the monitoring of anthropogenic seismicity. The acquired data from all four networks are openly available through the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) Information Technology (IT) facilities: the PLSN data within the Observatories and Research Facilities for European Seismology–European Integrated Data Archive and the anthropogenic seismicity data episodes through the induced seismicity-EPOS platform of EPOS Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards. For each network, we describe briefly the recorded seismic activity, the equipment and composition of the network, the acquisition system, and the data availability. Information from recent studies is used to demonstrate the scientific potential of the acquired anthropogenic seismicity data.
Research in the field of anthropogenic seismicity (AS) requires not only seismicity data but also data regarding the progress of the technological/production activities which is the origin of the induced or triggered seismic events. Such data are typically restricted and proprietary, and therefore, usually not available for independent researchers who wish to develop, perform and verify scientific research. The induced seismicity-European plate observing system (IS-EPOS) web portal offers to its user’s access to data, applications and documents in order to facilitate AS research. IS-EPOS web portal has been designed
to serve as one of the main pillars of the Thematic Core Service—-Anthropogenic Hazards belonging to pan-European multidisciplinary research infrastructure created within the EPOS program. IS-EPOS platform is open for research community and general public according to its rules of access. The platform is operating since January 2016 and is now integrated in the EPOS Integrated Core Services. IS-EPOS e-platform promotes new opportunities to study and comprehend the dynamic and complex solid earth system by integrating the use of multidisciplinary data, data products, analysis models and online
applications. The integration of existing and new national and transnational Research Infrastructures increases the access and use of multidisciplinary data recorded by the solid earth observing systems, acquired in laboratory experiments and/ or produced by computational simulations. In this paper, we describe the structure and the main innovative characteristics implemented in IS-EPOS. The platform is open to accommodate data integrated within other research projects, and it is continuously being updated with improvements in existing features and implementations of new ones. An appendix at the end of the article provides a summary of acronyms and abbreviations in order to make the reader familiar with the terms used throughout the manuscript.
Shale oil and gas exploitation by hydraulic fracturing experienced a strong development worldwide over the last years, accompanied by a substantial increase of related induced seismicity, either consequence of fracturing or wastewater injection. In Europe, unconventional hydrocarbon resources remain underdeveloped and their exploitation controversial. In UK, fracturing operations were stopped after the Mw 2.3 Blackpool induced earthquake; in Poland, operations were halted in 2017 due to adverse oil market conditions. One of the last operated well at Wysin, Poland, was monitored independently in the framework of the EU project SHEER, through a multidisciplinary system including seismic, water and air quality monitoring. The hybrid seismic network combines surface mini-arrays, broadband and shallow borehole sensors. This paper summarizes the outcomes of the seismological analysis of these data. Shallow artificial seismic noise sources were detected and located at the wellhead active during the fracturing stages. Local microseismicity was also detected, located and characterised, culminating in two events of Mw 1.0 and 0.5, occurring days after the stimulation in the vicinity of the operational well, but at very shallow depths. A sharp methane peak was detected ~19 hours after the Mw 0.5 event. No correlation was observed between injected volumes, seismicity and groundwater parameters.
Purpose
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is expected to become an important component of the UK’s energy supply because the national hydrocarbon reserves on the continental shelf have started diminishing. However, use of any carbon-based fuel runs counter to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Hence, a broad environmental assessment to analyse the import of LNG to the UK is required.
Methods
A cradle to gate life cycle assessment has been carried out of a specific but representative case: LNG imported to the UK from Qatar. The analysis covers the supply chain, from gas extraction through to distribution to the end-user, assuming state-of-the-art facilities and ships. A sensitivity analysis was also conducted on key parameters including the energy requirements of the liquefaction and vaporisation processes, fuel for propulsion, shipping distance, tanker volume and composition of raw gas.
Results and discussion
All environmental indicators of the CML methodology were analysed. The processes of liquefaction, LNG transport and evaporation determine more than 50% of the cradle to gate global warming potential (GWP). When 1% of the total gas delivered is vented as methane emissions leakage throughout the supply chain, the GWP increases by 15% compared to the GWP of the base scenario. The variation of the GWP increases to 78% compared to the base scenario when 5% of the delivered gas is considered to be lost as vented emissions. For all the scenarios analysed, more than 75% of the total acidification potential (AP) is due to the sweetening of the natural gas before liquefaction. Direct emissions from transport always determine between 25 and 49% of the total eutrophication potential (EP) whereas the operation and maintenance of the sending ports strongly influences the fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity potential (FAETP).
Conclusions
The study highlights long-distance transport of LNG and natural gas processing, including sweetening, liquefaction and vaporisation, as the key operations that strongly affect the life cycle impacts. Those cannot be considered negligible when the environmental burdens of the LNG supply chain are considered. Furthermore, the effect of possible fugitive methane emissions along the supply chain are critical for the impact of operations such as extraction, liquefaction, storage before transport, transport itself and evaporation.
Development of shale gas by hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) is opposed by campaigners who propose ( inter alia ) that freshwater aquifers could be polluted by upward migration of fractures and any fluids they contain. Prima facie hydrogeological analysis of this proposition has been undertaken. For it to occur, two conditions must be satisfied: (i) sufficient hydraulic interconnection (i.e., a continuous permeable pathway); and
(ii) a sustained driving head, oriented upwards.
With regard to (i), shale gas developers have a major vested interest in avoiding creating such hydraulic connection, as it would result in uneconomically excessive amounts of water needing to be pumped from their wells to achieve gas production. In relation to (ii), nominal upward hydraulic gradients will typically only be developed during fracking for periods of a few hours, which is far too brief to achieve solute transport over vertical intervals of one or more kilometres; thereafter, depressurisation of wells to allow gas to flow will result in downward hydraulic gradients being maintained for many years. The proposition is therefore found to be unsupportable. Albeit for contrasting motivations, developers and environmental guardians turn out to have a strong common interest in avoiding inter-connection to aquifers.
A powerful illustration of the potential long-term effects of fracking is provided by the hydrogeological history of underground coal mining in the UK. Where large-scale mining proceeded from the surface downwards, major hydraulic inter-connection of shallow and deep zones resulted in widespread water pollution. However, where new mines were developed at depth without connections to shallow old workings (as in the Selby Coalfield, Yorkshire), complete hydraulic isolation from the near-surface hydrogeological environment was successfully maintained. This was despite far greater stratal disruption and induced seismicity than shale gas fracking could ever produce. The lesson is clear: without hydrogeological connectivity to shallow aquifers, shale gas fracking per se cannot contaminate shallow ground water.
Climate change is one of the focuses to mitigate greenhouse effect and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. First, the paper summarizes on the carbon dioxide emission factors and methods suitable to the situation in China. Second, it analyzes the primary energy-related carbon dioxide emissions during the period between 1995 and 2005 from different fossil fuels and different zones. The trend of primary energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from 1995 to 2005 is “first decreasing and later increasing.” Seven regions – Liaoning, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, and Jiangsu – and most of the provinces (cities or regions) were found to have similar trends regarding total carbon dioxide emissions in China. The annual carbon dioxide emissions and the growth ratio of these seven regions are much higher compared to those of the other 24 provinces (cities or regions). Finally, this paper puts forward some suggestions to reduce carbon dioxide.
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