Shale Development Impacts on Texas A report on the effects of shale development was released in June by the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). The “Environmental and Community Impacts of Shale Development in Texas” report looked at the key impact areas of seismicity, land, air, water, transportation and economic and social.
fracturing uses large amounts of water, although hydraulic fracturing in the state represents less than 1% of total water use. Further research is needed into technologies using recycled produced water for fracturing. A study published by the USGS determined that unconventional oil and gas production is not currently a significant source of methane or benzene to drinking water wells in regions sampled in the Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Fayetteville areas. Transportation: Modern unconventional wells require a large number of trucks in developing a well and leading to production and TAMEST examined the effects of increased truck traffic caused by development. Many areas of the Permian basin are sparsely populated and the roads were not designed to handle the number of trucks needed for current development. The two recommendations of TAMEST are: development of other ways to transport materials to relieve stress on the road system and active preparation in advance of drilling activity to improve the road system before the increase in traffic occurs.
TAMEST membership includes all Texas-based members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and Texas Nobel Laureates. Seismicity: Although faults are widespread through Texas (most are stable and not prone to generating earthquakes) and earthquakes have increased in recent years, they are still infrequent. Oklahoma experiences about 60 times more earthquakes of magnitude greater than M3.0, whereas between 2008 and 2016, Texas averaged 12 to 15 earthquakes of magnitude greater than M3.0. Earthquakes smaller than M3.0 are generally unnoticeable by people. TAMEST conclusions confirm previous reports that potentially induced earthquakes are associated with water disposal wells rather than hydraulic fracturing. Data sharing between groups to analyze induced seismicity is TAMEST’s recommendation. Land: While the amount of drilling activity using multi- well pads in the past decade has had a significant impact on the landscape, as many vertical wells would have had a much greater impact. TAMEST did recommend adopting a surface damages act in Texas, which does not currently have such legislation. Also, although there is a significant amount of data available, nothing is on a single usable database. Air: Air quality emissions from oil and gas operations have increased with greater production; however, a small number of wells are responsible for the majority of the emissions. Liquid storage tanks are particular culprits and as an example, are responsible for 90% of the cases of detectable emissions in the Barnett Shale. TAMEST recommended using reliable and relatively inexpensive emissions detectors such as infrared cameras to identify the locations that need repair. Water: Agreeing with most other reports, TAMEST concluded that the great separation in depth between aquifers and oil-bearing zones makes fracturing into drinking water zones highly unlikely and no contamination has been observed in Texas. Hydraulic
TABLE 7-2 Number of Trucks Needed to Develop a Well.
Number of Trucks
Barnett Shale
Eagle Ford Shale
Permian Basin
Well Development
Drilling pad and construction equipment Drilling rig, equipment, materials, and fluid Fracturing equipment: pump trucks, tanks
70
70
70
117
117
117
74
74
74
Fracturing water Fracturing sand
533
1,021
527
57
147
66 11
Other additives and fluids Flowback water removal
4
24
133 988
255
132 997
Total
1,708
SOURCE: Quiroga et al., 2016.
Economic and Social: Exact numbers are subject to debate; however, available economic data indicates that oil and gas development has positive effects locally, regionally and state-wide in Texas. 2013 estimates for the oil and gas industry in the Permian Basin (prior to the latest Permian boom) indicated that over 546,000 jobs were sustained and $137.8 billion in economic output was generated. Although not as great as the Permian, estimates for 2013 activity in the Barnett Shale showed $12.8 billion in economic output and 115,000 jobs and in the Eagle Ford $87.8 billion in economic output and 150,000 jobs.
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