hale gas

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For gas generated by oil shale pyrolysis and also referred as shale gas, see Oil
shale gas.

48 structural basins with shale gas and oil, in 38 countries, per the US Energy
Information Administration, 2011.

As of 2013, the US, Canada, and China are the only countries producing shale gas in
commercial quantities. The US and Canada are the only countries where shale gas is
a significant part of the gas supply.

Total natural gas rig count in the US (including conventional gas drilling)
Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations.[1] Shale
gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States
since the start of this century, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in
the rest of the world. In 2000 shale gas provided only 1% of U.S. natural gas
production; by 2010 it was over 20% and the U.S. government's Energy Information
Administration predicts that by 2035, 46% of the United States' natural gas supply
will come from shale gas.[2]

Some analysts expect that shale gas will greatly expand worldwide energy supply.[3]
China is estimated to have the world's largest shale gas reserves.[4]

The Obama administration believed that increased shale gas development would help
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[5] In 2012, US carbon dioxide emissions dropped to
a 20-year low.[6]

A 2013 review by the United Kingdom Department of Energy and Climate Change noted
that most studies of the subject have estimated that life-cycle greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions from shale gas are similar to those of conventional natural gas,
and are much less than those from coal, usually about half the greenhouse gas
emissions of coal; the noted exception was a 2011 study by Howarth and others of
Cornell University, which concluded that shale GHG emissions were as high as those
of coal.[7][8] More recent studies have also concluded that life-cycle shale gas
GHG emissions are much less than those of coal,[9][10][11][12] among them, studies
by Natural Resources Canada (2012),[13] and a consortium formed by the US National
Renewable Energy Laboratory with a number of universities (2012).[14]

Some 2011 studies pointed to high rates of decline of some shale gas wells as an
indication that shale gas production may ultimately be much lower than is currently
projected.[15][16] But shale-gas discoveries are also opening up substantial new
resources of tight oil, also known as "shale oil".[17]

Contents
1 History
1.1 United States
2 Geology
3 Shale gas by country
4 Environment
4.1 Climate
4.2 Life cycle comparison for more than global warming potential
4.3 Water and air quality
4.4 Earthquakes
4.5 The relative impacts of natural gas and coal
4.5.1 Human health impacts
4.5.2 Social impacts
4.5.3 Landscape impacts
4.5.4 Water
5 Hazards
6 Economics
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
History
United States

Derrick and platform of drilling gas wells in Marcellus Shale – Pennsylvania

Shale gas was first extracted as a resource in Fredonia, New York, in 1821,[18][19]
in shallow, low-pressure fractures. Horizontal drilling began in the 1930s, and in
1947 a well was first fracked in the U.S.[2]

Federal price controls on natural gas led to shortages in the 1970s.[20] Faced with
declining natural gas production, the federal government invested in many supply
alternatives, including the Eastern Gas Shales Project, which lasted from 1976 to
1992, and the annual FERC-approved research budget of the Gas Research Institute,
where the federal government began extensive research funding in 1982,
disseminating the results to industry.[2] The federal government also provided tax
credits and rules benefiting the industry in the 1980 Energy Act.[2] The Department
of Energy later partnered with private gas companies to complete the first
successful air-drilled multi-fracture horizontal well in shale in 1986. The federal
government further incentivized drilling in shale via the Section 29 tax credit for
unconventional gas from 1980–2000. Microseismic imaging, a crucial input to both
hydraulic fracturing in shale and offshore oil drilling, originated from coalbeds
research at Sandia National Laboratories. The DOE program also applied two
technologies that had been developed previously by industry, massive hydraulic
fracturing and horizontal drilling, to shale gas formations,[21] which led to
microseismic imaging.

Although the Eastern Gas Shales Project had increased gas production in the
Appalachian and Michigan basins, shale gas was still widely seen as marginal to
uneconomic without tax credits, and shale gas provided only 1.6% of US gas
production in 2000, when the federal tax credits expired.[20]

George P. Mitchell is regarded as the father of the shale gas industry, since he
made it commercially viable in the Barnett Shale by getting costs down to $4 per 1
million British thermal units (1,100 megajoules).[22] Mitchell Energy achieved the
first economical shale fracture in 1998 using slick-water fracturing.[23][24][25]
Since then, natural gas from shale has been the fastest growing contributor to
total primary energy in the United States, and has led many other countries to
pursue shale deposits. According to the IEA, shale gas could increase technically
recoverable natural gas resources by almost 50%.[26]

Geology

An illustration of shale gas compared to other types of gas deposits.

Because shales ordinarily have insufficient permeability to allow significant fluid
flow to a wellbore, most shales are not commercial sources of natural gas. Shale
gas is one of a number of unconventional sources of natural gas; others include
coalbed methane, tight sandstones, and methane hydrates. Shale gas areas are often
known as resource plays[27] (as opposed to exploration plays). The geological risk
of not finding gas is low in resource plays, but the potential profits per
successful well are usually also lower.[citation needed]

Shale has low matrix permeability, and so gas production in commercial quantities
requires fractures to provide permeability. Shale gas has been produced for years
from shales with natural fractures; the shale gas boom in recent years has been due
to modern technology in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to create extensive
artificial fractures around well bores.[citation needed]

Horizontal drilling is often used with shale gas wells, with lateral lengths up to
10,000 feet (3,000 m) within the shale, to create maximum borehole surface area in
contact with the shale.[citation needed]

Shales that host economic quantities of gas have a number of common properties.
They are rich in organic material (0.5% to 25%),[28] and are usually mature
petroleum source rocks in the thermogenic gas window, where high heat and pressure
have converted petroleum to natural gas. They are sufficiently brittle and rigid
enough to maintain open fractures.

Some of the gas produced is held in natural fractures, some in pore spaces, and
some is adsorbed onto the shale matrix. Further, the adsorption of gas is a process
of physisorption, exothermic and spontaneous.[29] The gas in the fractures is
produced immediately; the gas adsorbed onto organic material is released as the
formation pressure is drawn down by the well.[citation needed]

Shale gas by country

Main articles: Shale gas by country and List of countries by recoverable shale gas
Although the shale gas potential of many nations is being studied, as of 2013, only
the US, Canada, and China produce shale gas in commercial quantities, and only the
US and Canada have significant shale gas production.[30] While China has ambitious
plans to dramatically increase its shale gas production, these efforts have been
checked by inadequate access to technology, water, and land.[31][32]

The table below is based on data collected by the Energy Information Administration
agency of the United States Department of Energy.[33] Numbers for the estimated
amount of "technically recoverable" [34] shale gas resources are provided alongside
numbers for proven natural gas reserves.

Country Estimated technically recoverable shale gas

(trillion cubic feet) Proven natural gas reserves of all types
(trillion cubic feet) Date of
Report[33]
1 China 1,115 124 2013
2 Argentina 802 12 2013
3 Algeria 707 159 2013
4 United States 665 318 2013
5 Canada 573 68 2013
6 Mexico 545 17 2013
7 South Africa 485 - 2013
8 Australia 437 43 2013
9 Russia 285 1,688 2013
10 Brazil 245 14 2013
11 Indonesia 580 150 2013
The US EIA had made an earlier estimate of total recoverable shale gas in various
countries in 2011, which for some countries differed significantly from the 2013
estimates.[35] The total recoverable shale gas in the United States, which was
estimated at 862 trillion cubic feet in 2011, was revised downward to 665 trillion
cubic feet in 2013. Recoverable shale gas in Canada, which was estimated to be 388
TCF in 2011, was revised upward to 573 TCF in 2013.

For the United States, EIA estimated (2013) a total "wet natural gas" resource of
2,431 tcf, including both shale and conventional gas. Shale gas was estimated to be
27% of the total resource.[33] "Wet natural gas" is methane plus natural gas
liquids, and is more valuable than dry gas.[36][37]
For the rest of the world (excluding US), EIA estimated (2013) a total wet natural
gas resource of 20,451 trillion cubic feet (579.1×1012 m3). Shale gas was estimated
to be 32% of the total resource.[33]

Europe has estimated shale gas reserves of 639 trillion cubic feet (18.1×1012 m3)
compared with America's 862 trillion cubic feet (24.4×1012 m3), but its geology is
more complicated and the oil and gas more expensive to extract, with a well likely
to cost as much as three-and-a-half times more than one in the United States.[38]
Europe would be the fastest growing region, accounting for the highest CAGR of
59.5%, in terms of volume owing to availability of shale gas reserves in more than
14 European countries.[39]

Environment
See also: Natural gas and Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing
The extraction and use of shale gas can affect the environment through the leaking
of extraction chemicals and waste into water supplies, the leaking of greenhouse
gases during extraction, and the pollution caused by the improper processing of
natural gas. A challenge to preventing pollution is that shale gas extractions
varies widely in this regard, even between different wells in the same project; the
processes that reduce pollution sufficiently in one extraction may not be enough in
another.[2]

In 2013 the European Parliament agreed that environmental impact assessments will
not be mandatory for shale gas exploration activities and shale gas extraction
activities will be subject to the same terms as other gas extraction projects.[40]

Climate
Barack Obama's administration has sometimes promoted shale gas, in part because of
its belief that it releases fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than other fossil
fuels. In a 2010 letter to President Obama, Martin Apple of the Council of
Scientific Society Presidents cautioned against a national policy of developing
shale gas without a more certain scientific basis for the policy. This umbrella
organization that represents 1.4 million scientists noted that shale gas
development "may have greater GHG emissions and environmental costs than previously
appreciated."[41]

In late 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency[42] issued a report which
concluded that shale gas emits larger amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas,
than does conventional gas, but still far less than coal. Methane is a powerful
greenhouse gas, although it stays in the atmosphere for only one tenth as long a
period as carbon dioxide. Recent evidence suggests that methane has a global
warming potential (GWP) that is 105-fold greater than carbon dioxide when viewed
over a 20-year period and 33-fold greater when viewed over a 100-year period,
compared mass-to-mass.[43]

Several studies which have estimated lifecycle methane leakage from shale gas
development and production have found a wide range of leakage rates, from less than
1% of total production to nearly 8%.[44]

A 2011 study published in Climatic Change Letters claimed that the production of
electricity using shale gas may lead to as much or more life-cycle GWP than
electricity generated with oil or coal.[45] In the peer-reviewed paper, Cornell
University professor Robert W. Howarth, a marine ecologist, and colleagues claimed
that once methane leak and venting impacts are included, the life-cycle greenhouse
gas footprint of shale gas is far worse than those of coal and fuel oil when viewed
for the integrated 20-year period after emission. On the 100-year integrated time
frame, this analysis claims shale gas is comparable to coal and worse than fuel
oil. However, other studies have pointed out flaws with the paper and come to
different conclusions. Among those are assessments by experts at the U.S.
Department of Energy,[46] peer-reviewed studies by Carnegie Mellon University[47]
and the University of Maryland,[48] and the Natural Resources Defense Council,
which claimed that the Howarth et al. paper's use of a 20-year time horizon for
global warming potential of methane is "too short a period to be appropriate for
policy analysis."[49] In January 2012, Howarth's colleagues at Cornell University,
Lawrence Cathles et al., responded with their own peer-reviewed assessment, noting
that the Howarth paper was "seriously flawed" because it "significantly
overestimate[s] the fugitive emissions associated with unconventional gas
extraction, undervalue[s] the contribution of 'green technologies' to reducing
those emissions to a level approaching that of conventional gas, base[s] their
comparison between gas and coal on heat rather than electricity generation (almost
the sole use of coal), and assume[s] a time interval over which to compute the
relative climate impact of gas compared to coal that does not capture the contrast
between the long residence time of CO2 and the short residence time of methane in
the atmosphere." The author of that response, Lawrence Cathles, wrote that "shale
gas has a GHG footprint that is half and perhaps a third that of coal," based upon
"more reasonable leakage rates and bases of comparison."[50]

In April 2013 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lowered its estimate of how
much methane leaks from wells, pipelines and other facilities during production and
delivery of natural gas by 20 percent. The EPA report on greenhouse emissions
credited tighter pollution controls instituted by the industry for cutting an
average of 41.6 million metric tons of methane emissions annually from 1990 through
2010, a reduction of more than 850 million metric tons overall. The Associated
Press noted that "The EPA revisions came even though natural gas production has
grown by nearly 40 percent since 1990."[51]

Using data from the Environmental Protection Agency's 2013 Greenhouse Gas
Inventory[52] yields a methane leakage rate of about 1.4%, down from 2.3% from the
EPA's previous Inventory.[53]

A five-year set of studies coordinated by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and
released 2018, found that methane leaks in the U.S. are 60% higher than estimates
by the EPA.[54] The study, which was conducted by researchers from 40 institutions,
estimated a 2.3% methane leak rate, "enough to erode much of the climate advantage
gas has over coal".[55]

Life cycle comparison for more than global warming potential

A 2014 study from Manchester University presented the "First full life cycle
assessment of shale gas used for electricity generation." By full life cycle
assessment, the authors explained that they mean the evaluation of nine
environmental factors beyond the commonly performed evaluation of global warming
potential. The authors concluded that, in line with most of the published studies
for other regions, that shale gas in the United Kingdom would have a global warming
potential "broadly similar" to that of conventional North Sea gas, although shale
gas has the potential to be higher if fugitive methane emissions are not
controlled, or if per-well ultimate recoveries in the UK are small. For the other
parameters, the highlighted conclusions were that, for shale gas in the United
Kingdom in comparison with coal, conventional and liquefied gas, nuclear, wind and
solar (PV).

Shale gas worse than coal for three impacts and better than renewables for four.
It has higher photochemical smog and terrestrial toxicity than the other options.
Shale gas a sound environmental option only if accompanied by stringent regulation.
[56][57][58]
Dr James Verdon has published a critique of the data produced, and the variables
that may affect the results.[59]
Water and air quality
Chemicals are added to the water to facilitate the underground fracturing process
that releases natural gas. Fracturing fluid is primarily water and approximately
0.5% chemical additives (friction reducer, agents countering rust, agents killing
microorganism). Since (depending on the size of the area) millions of liters of
water are used, this means that hundreds of thousands of liters of chemicals are
often injected into the subsurface.[60] About 50% to 70% of the injected volume of
contaminated water is recovered and stored in above-ground ponds to await removal
by tanker. The remaining volume remains in the subsurface. Hydraulic fracturing
opponents fear that it can lead to contamination of groundwater aquifers, though
the industry deems this "highly unlikely". However, foul-smelling odors and heavy
metals contaminating the local water supply above-ground have been reported.[61]

Besides using water and industrial chemicals, it is also possible to frack shale
gas with only liquified propane gas. This reduces the environmental degradation
considerably. The method was invented by GasFrac, of Alberta, Canada.[62]

Hydraulic fracturing was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act in the Energy
Policy Act of 2005.[63]

A study published in May 2011 concluded that shale gas wells have seriously
contaminated shallow groundwater supplies in northeastern Pennsylvania with
flammable methane. However, the study does not discuss how pervasive such
contamination might be in other areas drilled for shale gas.[64]

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced 23 June 2011 that
it will examine claims of water pollution related to hydraulic fracturing in Texas,
North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Louisiana.[65] On 8 December 2011, the EPA
issued a draft finding which stated that groundwater contamination in Pavillion,
Wyoming may be the result of fracking in the area. The EPA stated that the finding
was specific to the Pavillion area, where the fracking techniques differ from those
used in other parts of the U.S. Doug Hock, a spokesman for the company which owns
the Pavillion gas field, said that it is unclear whether the contamination came
from the fracking process.[66] Wyoming's Governor Matt Mead called the EPA draft
report "scientifically questionable" and stressed the need for additional testing.
[67] The Casper Star-Tribune also reported on 27 December 2011, that the EPA's
sampling and testing procedures "didn’t follow their own protocol" according to
Mike Purcell, the director of the Wyoming Water Development Commission.[68]

A 2011 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology concluded that "The

environmental impacts of shale development are challenging but manageable." The
study addressed groundwater contamination, noting "There has been concern that
these fractures can also penetrate shallow freshwater zones and contaminate them
with fracturing fluid, but there is no evidence that this is occurring". This study
blames known instances of methane contamination on a small number of sub-standard
operations, and encourages the use of industry best practices to prevent such
events from recurring.[69]

In a report dated 25 July 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced
that it had completed its testing of private drinking water wells in Dimock,
Pennsylvania. Data previously supplied to the agency by residents, the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection, and Cabot Oil and Gas Exploration had
indicated levels of arsenic, barium or manganese in well water at five homes at
levels that could present a health concern. In response, water treatment systems
that can reduce concentrations of those hazardous substances to acceptable levels
at the tap were installed at affected homes. Based on the outcome of sampling after
the treatment systems were installed, the EPA concluded that additional action by
the Agency was not required.[70]
A Duke University study of Blacklick Creek (Pennsylvania), carried out over two
years, took samples from the creek upstream and down stream of the discharge point
of Josephine Brine Treatment Facility. Radium levels in the sediment at the
discharge point are around 200 times the amount upstream of the facility. The
radium levels are "above regulated levels" and present the "danger of slow bio-
accumulation" eventually in fish. The Duke study "is the first to use isotope
hydrology to connect the dots between shale gas waste, treatment sites and
discharge into drinking water supplies." The study recommended "independent
monitoring and regulation" in the United States due to perceived deficiencies in
self-regulation.[71][72]
What is happening is the direct result of a lack of any regulation. If the Clean
Water Act was applied in 2005 when the shale gas boom started this would have been
prevented. In the UK, if shale gas is going to develop, it should not follow the
American example and should impose environmental regulation to prevent this kind of
radioactive buildup.

— Avner Vengosh[71]
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Water Act applies to
surface stream discharges from shale gas wells:

"6) Does the Clean Water Act apply to discharges from Marcellus Shale Drilling
operations?
Yes. Natural gas drilling can result in discharges to surface waters. The discharge
of this water is subject to requirements under the Clean Water Act (CWA)."[73]
Earthquakes
Hydraulic fracturing routinely produces microseismic events much too small to be
detected except by sensitive instruments. These microseismic events are often used
to map the horizontal and vertical extent of the fracturing.[74] However, as of
late 2012, there have been three known instances worldwide of hydraulic fracturing,
through induced seismicity, triggering quakes large enough to be felt by people.
[75]

On 26 April 2012, the Asahi Shimbun reported that United States Geological Survey
scientists have been investigating the recent increase in the number of magnitude 3
and greater earthquake in the midcontinent of the United States. Beginning in 2001,
the average number of earthquakes occurring per year of magnitude 3 or greater
increased significantly, culminating in a six-fold increase in 2011 over 20th
century levels. A researcher in Center for Earthquake Research and Information of
University of Memphis assumes water pushed back into the fault tends to cause
earthquake by slippage of fault.[76][77]

Over 109 small earthquakes (Mw 0.4–3.9) were detected during January 2011 to
February 2012 in the Youngstown, Ohio area, where there were no known earthquakes
in the past. These shocks were close to a deep fluid injection well. The 14 month
seismicity included six felt earthquakes and culminated with a Mw 3.9 shock on 31
December 2011. Among the 109 shocks, 12 events greater than Mw 1.8 were detected by
regional network and accurately relocated, whereas 97 small earthquakes
(0.4<Mw<1.8) were detected by the waveform correlation detector. Accurately located
earthquakes were along a subsurface fault trending ENE-WSW—consistent with the
focal mechanism of the main shock and occurred at depths 3.5–4.0 km in the
Precambrian basement.

On 19 June 2012, the United States Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources
held a hearing entitled, "Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies." Dr.
Murray Hitzman, the Charles F. Fogarty Professor of Economic Geology in the
Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines in
Golden, CO testified that "About 35,000 hydraulically fractured shale gas wells
exist in the United States. Only one case of felt seismicity in the United States
has been described in which hydraulic fracturing for shale gas development is
suspected, but not confirmed. Globally only one case of felt induced seismicity at
Blackpool, England has been confirmed as being caused by hydraulic fracturing for
shale gas development."[78]

The relative impacts of natural gas and coal

Human health impacts
A comprehensive review of the public health effects of energy fuel cycles in Europe
finds that coal causes 6 to 98 deaths per TWh (average 25 deaths per TWh), compared
to natural gas’ 1 to 11 deaths per TWh (average 3 deaths per TWh). These numbers
include both accidental deaths and pollution-related deaths.[79] Coal mining is one
of the most dangerous professions in the United States, resulting in between 20 and
40 deaths annually, compared to between 10 and 20 for oil and gas extraction.[80]
Worker accident risk is also far higher with coal than gas. In the United States,
the oil and gas extraction industry is associated with one to two injuries per 100
workers each year. Coal mining, on the other hand, contributes to four injuries per
100 workers each year. Coal mines collapse, and can take down roads, water and gas
lines, buildings and many lives with them.[81]

Average damages from coal pollutants are two orders of magnitude larger than
damages from natural gas. SO2, NOx, and particulate matter from coal plants create
annual damages of $156 million per plant compared to $1.5 million per gas plant.
[82] Coal-fired power plants in the United States emit 17–40 times more SOx
emissions per MWh than natural gas, and 1–17 times as much NOx per MWh.[83]
Lifecycle CO2 emissions from coal plants are 1.8-2.3 times greater (per KWh) than
natural gas emissions.[84]

The air quality advantages of natural gas over coal have been borne out in
Pennsylvania, according to studies by the RAND Corporation and the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection. The shale boom in Pennsylvania has led to
dramatically lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, fine particulates, and volatile
organic compounds (VOCs).[11]

Physicist Richard A. Muller has said that the public health benefits from shale
gas, by displacing harmful air pollution from coal, far outweigh its environmental
costs. In a 2013 report for the Centre for Policy Studies, Muller wrote that air
pollution, mostly from coal burning, kills over three million people each year,
primarily in the developing world. The report states that "Environmentalists who
oppose the development of shale gas and fracking are making a tragic mistake."[12]
In China, shale gas development is seen[when?] as a way to shift away from coal and
decrease serious air pollution problems created by burning coal.[85]

Social impacts
Shale gas development leads to a series of tiered socio-economic effects during
boom conditions.[86] These include both positive and negative aspects. Along with
other forms of unconventional energy, shale oil and gas extraction has three direct
initial aspects: increased labour demand (employment);[87] income generation
(higher wages);[88] and disturbance to land and/or other economic activity,
potentially resulting in compensation. Following these primary direct effects, the
following secondary effects occur: in-migration (to meet labour demand), attracting
temporary and/or permanent residents, Increased demand for goods and services;
leading to increased indirect employment.[89] The latter two of these can fuel each
other in a circular relationship during boom conditions (i.e. increased demand for
goods and services creates employment which increase demand for goods and
services). These increases place strain on existing infrastructure. These
conditions lead to tertiary socio-economic effects in the form of increased housing
values; increased rental costs; construction of new dwellings (which may take time
to be completed); demographic and cultural changes as new types of people move to
the host region;[90] changes to income distribution; potential for conflict;
potential for increased substance abuse; and provision of new types of services.
[86] The reverse of these effects occurs over bust conditions, with a decline in
primary effects leading to a decline in secondary effects and so on. However, the
bust period of unconventional extraction may not be as severe as from conventional
energy extraction.[91] Due to the dispersed nature of the industry and ability to
adjust drilling rates, there is debate in the literature as to how intense the bust
phase is and how host communities can maintain social resilience during downturns.
[92]

Landscape impacts
Coal mining radically alters whole mountain and forest landscapes. Beyond the coal
removed from the earth, large areas of forest are turned inside out and blackened
with toxic and radioactive chemicals. There have been reclamation successes, but
hundreds of thousands of acres of abandoned surface mines in the United States have
not been reclaimed, and reclamation of certain terrain (including steep terrain) is
nearly impossible.[93]

Where coal exploration requires altering landscapes far beyond the area where the
coal is, aboveground natural gas equipment takes up just one percent of the total
surface land area from where gas will be extracted.[94] The environmental impact of
gas drilling has changed radically in recent years. Vertical wells into
conventional formations used to take up one-fifth of the surface area above the
resource, a twenty-fold higher impact than current horizontal drilling requires. A
six-acre horizontal drill pad can thus extract gas from an underground area 1,000
acres in size.

The impact of natural gas on landscapes is even less and shorter in duration than
the impact of wind turbines. The footprint of a shale gas derrick (3–5 acres) is
only a little larger than the land area necessary for a single wind turbine.[95]
But it requires less concrete, stands one-third as tall, and is present for just 30
days instead of 20–30 years. Between 7 and 15 weeks are spent setting up the drill
pad and completing the actual hydraulic fracture. At that point, the drill pad is
removed, leaving behind a single garage-sized wellhead that remains for the
lifetime of the well.[citation needed] A study published in 2015 on the
Fayetteville Shale found that a mature gas field impacted about 2% of the land area
and substantially increased edge habitat creation. Average land impact per well was
3 hectares (about 7 acres) [96]

Water
With coal mining, waste materials are piled at the surface of the mine, creating
aboveground runoff that pollutes and alters the flow of regional streams. As rain
percolates through waste piles, soluble components are dissolved in the runoff and
cause elevated total dissolved solids (TDS) levels in local water bodies.[93]
Sulfates, calcium, carbonates and bicarbonates – the typical runoff products of
coalmine waste materials – make water unusable for industry or agriculture and
undrinkable for humans.[97] Acid mine wastewater can drain into groundwater,
causing significant contamination. Explosive blasting in a mine can cause
groundwater to seep to lower-than-normal depths or connect two aquifers that were
previously distinct, exposing both to contamination by mercury, lead, and other
toxic heavy metals.

Contamination of surface waterways and groundwater with fracking fluids can be

problematic.[98] Shale gas deposits are generally several thousand feet below
ground. There have been instances of methane migration, improper treatment of
recovered wastewater, and pollution via reinjection wells.[99]

In most cases, the life-cycle water intensity and pollution associated with coal
production and combustion far outweigh those related to shale gas production. Coal
resource production requires at least twice as much water per million British
thermal units compared to shale gas production.[100] And while regions like
Pennsylvania have experienced an absolute increase in water demand for energy
production thanks to the shale boom, shale wells actually produce less than half
the wastewater per unit of energy compared to conventional natural gas.[94]

Coal-fired power plants consume two to five times as much water as natural gas
plants. Where 520–1040 gallons of water are required per MWh of coal, gas-fired
combined cycle power requires 130–500 gallons per MWh.[101] The environmental
impact of water consumption at the point of power generation depends on the type of
power plant: plants either use evaporative cooling towers to release excess heat or
discharge water to nearby rivers.[102] Natural gas combined-cycle power (NGCC),
which captures the exhaust heat generated by combusting natural gas to power a
steam generator, are considered the most efficient large-scale thermal power
plants. One study found that the life-cycle demand for water from coal power in
Texas could be more than halved by switching the fleet to NGCC.[103]

All told, shale gas development in the United States represents less than half a
percent of total domestic freshwater consumption, although this portion can reach
as high as 25 percent in particularly arid regions.[104]

Hazards
Drilling depths of 1,000 to 3,000 m, then injection of a fluid composed of water,
sand and detergents under pressure (600 bar), are required to fracture the rock and
release the gas. These operations have already caused groundwater contaminations
across the Atlantic, mainly as a result of hydrocarbon leakage along the casings.
[citation needed] In addition, between 2% and 8% of the extracted fuel would be
released to the atmosphere at wells (still in the United States).[citation needed]
However, it is mainly composed of methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas that is
considerably more powerful than CO2.

Surface installations must be based on concrete or paved soils connected to the

road network. A gas pipeline is also required to evacuate production. In total,
each farm would occupy an average area of 3.6 ha. However, the gas fields are
relatively small. Exploitation of shale gas could therefore lead to fragmentation
of landscapes. Finally, a borehole requires about 20 million liters of water, the
daily consumption of about 100,000 inhabitants.[105]

Economics
See also: Natural gas prices
Although shale gas has been produced for more than 100 years in the Appalachian
Basin and the Illinois Basin of the United States, the wells were often marginally
economic. Advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal completions have made
shale-gas wells more profitable.[106] Improvements in moving drilling rigs between
nearby locations, and the use of single well pads for multiple wells have increased
the productivity of drilling shale gas wells.[107] As of June 2011, the validity of
the claims of economic viability of these wells has begun to be publicly
questioned.[108] Shale gas tends to cost more to produce than gas from conventional
wells, because of the expense of the massive hydraulic fracturing treatments
required to produce shale gas, and of horizontal drilling.[109]

The cost of extracting offshore shale gas in the UK were estimated to be more than
$200 per barrel of oil equivalent (UK North Sea oil prices were about $120 per
barrel in April 2012). However, no cost figures were made public for onshore shale
gas.[110]

North America has been the leader in developing and producing shale gas. The
economic success of the Barnett Shale play in Texas in particular has spurred the
search for other sources of shale gas across the United States and Canada,[citation
needed]
Some Texas residents think fracking is using too much of their groundwater, but
drought and other growing uses are also part of the causes of the water shortage
there.[111]

A Visiongain research report calculated the 2011 worth of the global shale-gas
market as $26.66 billion.[112]

A 2011 New York Times investigation of industrial emails and internal documents
found that the financial benefits of unconventional shale gas extraction may be
less than previously thought, due to companies intentionally overstating the
productivity of their wells and the size of their reserves.[113] The article was
criticized by, among others, the New York Times' own Public Editor for lack of
balance in omitting facts and viewpoints favorable to shale gas production and
economics.[114]

In first quarter 2012, the United States imported 840 billion cubic feet (Bcf) (785
from Canada) while exporting 400 Bcf (mostly to Canada); both mainly by pipeline.
[115] Almost none is exported by ship as LNG, as that would require expensive
facilities. In 2012, prices went down to US$3 per million British thermal units
($10/MWh) due to shale gas.[116]

A recent academic paper on the economic impacts of shale gas development in the US
finds that natural gas prices have dropped dramatically in places with shale
deposits with active exploration. Natural gas for industrial use has become cheaper
by around 30% compared to the rest of the US.[117] This stimulates local energy
intensive manufacturing growth, but brings the lack of adequate pipeline capacity
in the US in sharp relief.[118]

One of the byproducts of shale gas exploration is the opening up of deep

underground shale deposits to "tight oil" or shale oil production. By 2035, shale
oil production could "boost the world economy by up to $2.7 trillion, a
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report says. It has the potential to reach up to 12
percent of the world’s total oil production — touching 14 million barrels a day —
"revolutionizing" the global energy markets over the next few decades." [17]

According to a 2013 Forbes magazine article, generating electricity by burning

natural gas is cheaper than burning coal if the price of gas remains below US$3 per
million British thermal units ($10/MWh) or about $3 per 1000 cubic feet.[22] Also
in 2013, Ken Medlock, Senior Director of the Baker Institute's Center for Energy
Studies, researched US shale gas break-even prices. "Some wells are profitable at
$2.65 per thousand cubic feet, others need $8.10…the median is $4.85," Medlock
said.[119] Energy consultant Euan Mearns estimates that, for the US, "minimum costs
[are] in the range $4 to $6 / mcf. [per 1000 cubic feet or million BTU]."[120][121]

See also
Biogas
Oil sands
Peak oil
Tight gas
Fracking
Underground coal gasification
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Conversions "$ per MM [million] Btu multiplied by 1.025 = $ per Mcf"
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shale gas.
Unconventional Gas and Implications for the LNG Market by Christopher Gascoyne and
Alexis Aik. This is a working paper written for the 2011 Pacific Energy Summit
hosted by the National Bureau of Asian Research.
The Shale Gas Boom: The global implications of the rise of unconventional fossil
energy, FIIA Briefing Paper 122, 20 March 2013, The Finnish Institute of
International Affairs.
A Comparison between Shale Gas in China and Unconventional Fuel Development in the
United States: Health, Water and Environmental Risks by Paolo Farah and Riccardo
Tremolada. This is a paper presented at the Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship
2013 hosted by Vermont Law School (11 October 2013)
Map of Assessed Shale Gas in the United States, 2012 United States Geological
Survey
Registry will Help Study Health Impact from Living Near Shale Gas Wells, Birth
Defect Research for Children Newsletter, May 2017
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