On June 29, 2012, the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering (the "Royal Society") published an independent review (the "Report"), commissioned by the UK government's Chief Scientific Advisor, which analyzed the current scientific and engineering evidence relating to the risks associated with the use of hydraulic fracturing (or "fracking"). The Royal Society concluded that ensuring well integrity is the highest priority in fracking operations and that the health, safety, and environmental risks associated with fracking could be effectively managed in the UK so long as operational best practices are implemented and enforced through regulation.

The Report made certain recommendations to effectively manage the risks associated with fracking, which included the following principal recommendations:

  • Water Contamination: The risk of fractures propagating from shale formations to overlying aquifers is very low provided that shale gas extraction takes place at depths where it is typically most feasible. Arrangements for monitoring abandoned wells require further development to ensure well failures do not occur post abandonment, including the establishment of a permanent source of funding for such monitoring and any required remediation work.

  • Well Integrity: Ensuring well integrity must be the given the highest priority to prevent well leakage and contamination. In order to achieve this, the role of well examiners should be clarified such that they remain independent of operators and their reviews are conducted taking both a health and safety perspective and an environmental perspective into consideration and that such reviews would include examinations of well designs and the conformity of well construction to approved well designs.

  • Induced Seismicity: To mitigate the risk of future tremors, national surveys should be carried out to identify stresses and faults in the sub-surface and a national database should be maintained including data obtained from operators. In addition, a "traffic light" monitoring system, with operational data fed back to well sites, should be implemented, which would require fracking operations to be halted upon the occurrence of a seismic event of a particular magnitude. The Report recommends that companies proposing to undertake drilling monitor seismic activities before, during, and after hydraulic fracturing.

  • Water Management: Waste water is of particular concern as between 25 and 75 percent of the injected fracking fluid flows back to the surface upon depressurization of the well and such fluid contains methane, saline water, and minerals from the shale formation. Operational practices should be adopted to minimize water use, and waste water should be recycled and reused wherever possible. The Report did, however, note that such reuse of waste water could concentrate contaminants and, thereby, complicate eventual disposal.

In addition, the Report also recommends a number of operational best practices, in order to detect gas leakages, implement risk management best practices, and manage environmental risks, which drew on studies and operational practice in the United States.

Currently, oil and gas licenses and planning permits and authorizations are issued by different regulatory authorities. The Report recommends that a single regulatory body should take leadership over the shale gas permitting process in order to co-ordinate the various authorities with responsibilities for regulating shale gas extraction in the UK.

The Report also recommends that further consultation and research should be carried out into the public's acceptance of the extraction of shale gas in the context of the UK's wider policies on climate change, energy, and the economy and suggests that such consultation and research should be publicly funded rather than carried out by the oil and gas industry in order to ensure independence and confidence in the conclusions. The Report predicts a much wider UK shale gas industry in the future, but did note that it would still be some years before a rigorous estimate of UK shale gas reserves is possible.

The Report is a positive development for the shale gas industry and is consistent with the prevailing view of U.S. state regulators that the risks from hydraulic fracturing can be managed provided operational safeguards are adopted and best practices maintained.

The UK government has not yet responded to the Report.

Please click here for a copy of the Report and here for further information on shale gas operations from DECC's website.

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