Stakeholder perspectives on shale gas fracking: A Q-method study of environmental discourses

The rapid expansion of shale gas exploration worldwide is a significant source of environmental controversy. Successful shale gas policymaking is dependent upon a clear understanding of the dynamics of competing stakeholder perspectives on these issues, and so methods are needed to delineate the areas of agreement and conflict that emerge. This empirical study, based in the United Kingdom, examines emergent perspectives on a range of environmental, health and socio-economic impacts associated with shale gas fracking using Q- methodology: a combined qualitative-quantitative approach. The analysis reveals three typologies of perspectives amongst key industry, civil society and non-affiliated citizen stakeholders; subsequently contextualised in relation to Dryzek’s typology of environmental discourses. These are labelled A) “Don’t trust the fossil fuels industry: campaign for renewables” (mediating between sustainable development and democratic pragmatism discourses); B) “Shale gas is a bridge fuel: economic growth and environmental scepticism” (mediating between economic rationalism and ecological modernisation discourses); and C) “Take place protective action and legislate in the public interest” (reflecting a discourse of administrative rationalism). The implications of these competing discourses for nascent shale gas policy in the UK are discussed in light of recent Government public consultation on changes to national planning policy

Shale gas policy in the United Kingdom: An argumentative discourse analysis

Shale gas has become an energy policy priority in the United Kingdom in light of profitable extraction activities in the United States. Since 2012 the Coalition Government has created key economic drivers to encourage shale exploration, whilst growing activism in affected site communities has stirred significant media and academic commentary. This study examines the growing national debate as a matter of discourse, adopting an argumentative discourse analytic approach to assess data collected from stakeholder interviews (n=21) and key policy actor statements quoted in broadsheet newspapers. We explore three dominant "storylines" emerging in relation to shale gas policy: (1) "cleanliness and dirt" concerns the relative framing of the environmental benefits and harms of shale gas; (2) "energy transitions - pathways and diversions" concerns geographic metaphors of transitions to carbon intensive and low-carbon energy systems; and (3) "geographies of environmental justice" concerns divisions of economic benefit distribution, environmental impact and procedural fairness. We find that central government policy rhetoric emphasises economic development, regulatory oversight and distribution of benefits to site communities, whilst minimising discussion of the implications of shale gas for anthropogenic climate change. The role of these discourses in influencing shale gas policy is discussed

The Seismic Evaluation of a Naturally Fractured Tight Gas Sand Reservoir in the Wind River Basin, Wyoming

Sub-vertical natural fracturing is critical for ensuring economic gas production from tight sand reservoirs in many provinces. Over the last seven years, the US Department of Energy (DoE) has sponsored a series of programmes in the continental United States to develop cost-effective technologies for investigating naturally fractured reservoirs. The results from a stud!: of a Laramide-age faulted anticline reservoir in the Lower Fort Union Formation of the Wind River Basin, Wyoming are presented. At the field site a multi-azimuth, multi-offset 3D compressional wave seismic survey was acquired and processed using azimuth-dependent processing followed by multi-azimuth attribute analysis. Geophysical attributes such as velocity, frequency, reflectivity and amplitude variation with offset, together with geological attributes such as depth below closure and distance from faults, were correlated to estimated ultimate recovery of gas for established wells within the field. The correlations were made using linear statistical methods, non-linear rank methods and neural networks to combine attribute results. The geophysical attributes and other geological information were combined into prospectivity maps for areas of highest fracture density. Based on the geophysical and geological results an 80% success rate was achieved at prospecting well locations.A major aspect of the DoE programmes has been the investigation of cost-effective protocols for fracture detection. From this study the following procedure is recommended for cost-effective mapping of fractures and associated gas: (1) perform field and remote-sensing reconnaissance of structural trends; (2) acquire 3D P-wave surveys with offsets equal to or greater than target depth in all azimuths; (3) process in at least two dominant structural azimuths; (4) combine best correlated geophysical and geological attributes to fractures for future fracture zone mapping. The implications of the results from this sun ey have important consequences for the design and implementation of multi-azimuth, multi-offset data acquisition on land and for marine surveys where multi-component ocean bottom cable surveying is used.</p

Geomechanical characteristics of gas shales: A case study in the North Perth basin

Gas shales are one type of unconventional reservoirs which have attracted significant attention for gas production in recent years. Gas production from very tight shales requires employment of hydraulic fracturing as a stimulation technique. To design hydraulic fracture operation the mechanical properties of the targeted and surrounding formations should be estimated. Also, the magnitude and orientation of in situ stresses in the field need to be known to estimate the fracture initiation and propagation pressures. This study focuses on gas shale characteristics in the North Perth Basin and uses data corresponding to well Arrowsmith-2 (AS-2) which is the first dedicated shale gas well drilled in Western Australia. A log-based analysis was used to build the rock mechanical model (RMM). The RMM results were used to set up a hydraulic fracturing laboratory experiment. The test was done in the presence of three principal stresses to mimic the real field stress conditions. The test results include the pressure–time curve which was used to estimate the initiation and propagation pressure at that depth. The results were used to draw some practical conclusions related to hydraulic fracturing operation in the field