Shale Play Water Will Be Monitored

Without water and a lot of it, the big-money energy companies that have descended on a natural gas formation in north-central Arkansas might as well pack it up and go home.
Roughly a million gallons of water are needed before a whiff of gas is captured from a single well. And without the use of a complicated high-pressure water technique known as hydraulic fracturing, the bonanza known as the Fayetteville Shale Play is almost worthless.
The geologic formation, which stretches across the state to the Mississippi River, is only visible in one spot — a cliff behind China Chan Restaurant at 2890 N. College Ave. in Fayetteville. The shale is about eight-feet thick behind the restaurant. Across the rest of the state, the shale is deeper underground, providing better opportunities for oil and natural gas deposits.
The Fayetteville Shale Play is expected to have a $5.5 billion impact on Arkansas’ economy through 2008 as oil companies sign leases to explore the formation.
There are two paramount issues as the exploitation of the play begins in earnest: ensuring that there’s enough water to feed the drilling rigs and ensuring that the water used by the energy companies doesn’t contaminate private wells and aquifers.
So what is being done to protect the integrity of Arkansas’ water supply? At this point, it’s hard to say. But experts and gas company officials insist that the question isn’t falling on deaf ears.
“I think we’ve seen interest from the parties involved regarding the issues surrounding the water supply, and they’re definitely on the radar screen,” said Todd Fugitt, geology supervisor at the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. “[ANRC has] quality and quantity measuring sticks in place, but not completely centered on the areas being drilled in the Fayetteville Shale Play. I think you will find there is work to be done and that the wheels are in motion to be more efficient as [the play] develops.”
The water issue, Fugitt said, will become more pressing as gas spreads toward the Mississippi River Delta, where getting into the shale could have a direct and detrimental effect on that area’s alluvial aquifer. More than 300,000 Arkansans use public water systems tied to that supply, versus a much smaller number who could potentially be at risk with private wells.
“Our biggest concern hasn’t come into play yet, and that is that it might become financially lucrative [for the gas companies] to move into the Delta at some point,” Fugitt said. “It’ll be crucial to be able to efficiently monitor that if it goes in that direction.”
For now, as drilling ramps up, private landowners with ponds and plentiful water supplies are gleefully signing leases to provide surface water to gas companies, while deals with several municipal water suppliers are also in place.
And the water after it is used for fracturing the shale? It isn’t clear what the long-term effects will be, nor whether adequate regulations are in place to monitor the treatment process.
Fracing Fracas
Only in recent years has technology been able to make the massive natural gas reserves trapped in thick layers of shale lucrative.
The best way to stimulate wells in such “unconventional” reserves is by hydraulically fracturing them — a process the industry calls “fracing,” which rhymes with cracking and means the same. Water is injected into the ground at nearly 100,000 pounds per square inch to fracture the shale, allowing the gas to flow freely back toward the well bore. A “proppant,” which in most cases is a well-sorted and well-rounded type of sand, is then jammed into the fractures to keep them propped open for flow.
“They do that a few more times at different depths and work from the toe to the heel,” said Ed Ratchford, an oil and gas supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Commission. “If they don’t get all of the water out, then it’s a deterrent for the gas production, so it’s in the interest of the operator to get out as much of that water as necessary for production purposes.”
Water Works
The water can be recycled for as many as three frac jobs before the concentration of salts, chlorides and other particles becomes too high to be efficient. Then the drillers have to find a place to dispose of the water.
The Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission regulates a few “cased” — that is, enclosed and sealed to prevent leakage — commercial disposal wells near Clarksville. But some of the used water can still be beneficial for surface purposes, according to the AOGC and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.
“In fact, the ADEQ has permitted some [gas companies] to land-farm some of the materials, though I have not actually seen any of that yet,” said Steve Gates, assistant director and geologist with the AOGC. “That’s where they spread it out on farm fields. There are a lot of good nutrients in the drilling fluid, and as long as your chlorides don’t reach a real high number, they will allow them to just spread it out.
“They’ll allow so much per acre and spread it out that way. But most of the water is currently being disposed of in commercial disposal wells.”
Unfortunately, some of the hot spots of the play are many miles from Clarksville, which is why some companies are exploring building their own.
“Our goal is to recycle water as much as we can, and we are currently evaluating different processes for doing that,” said John Thaeler, senior vice president of Seeco, a subsidiary of Southwestern Energy Co. of Houston, which is the play’s biggest player with nearly a million leased acres and 50 producing wells at last official count.
So Far, So Good
In contrast to another unconventional gas reserve called the Barnett Shale Play near Fort Worth, Texas, officials say the water supply for drilling in the Fayetteville Shale Play is in good shape.
The Barnett, which is considered mature after being exploited for almost 20 years, is beginning to experience water shortages, mainly due to its dry geographical location and a severe summer drought.
Drillers and state agencies in Arkansas are extremely optimistic that the surface water here will be more than adequate.
“I do not think that demand will be met through subsurface waters; I think anyone in the industry who knows the hydrology and geology of this area has already come to that same conclusion,” said Ratchford. “Arkansas has an abundance of surface water in this area, but the subsurface water and groundwater in that area aren’t sufficient.”
The play’s second-largest explorer, Chesapeake Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City, says it is investing in its water supply and making it more efficient.
“We are planning a supply reservoir to be completed next spring that will store water pumped from the Little Red River and provide a reliable source of water to meet our development needs,” said Tom Price, a senior vice president at Chesapeake. “The water stored is surplus runoff from the river, so that our water usage will not adversely impact local aquifers or the area’s surface water needs.”
Potential Red Flags
Although national environmental watchdog groups haven’t paid much attention to the Fayetteville Shale Play, one nonprofit organization called Earthworks, of Durango, Colo., contends there are a number of cases in the country where hydraulic fracturing is suspected of impairing or polluting the water supply. Its complaints mainly concern coalbed methane fields in the West, not shale reserves.
The group says the federal Safe Water Drinking Act does not regulate the injection of fracturing fluids that are often pumped into wells along with water. A 2004 Environmental Protection Agency study found that fracing “poses little or no threat” to drinking water, despite a whistleblower from inside the EPA and independent studies declaring the study “scientifically unsound.”
“It is our job to be aware of what’s going on with our water resources,” said the ANRC’s Fugitt. “I can assure you that state agencies and everyone involved aren’t taking any of these issues lightly.”