| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Drilling for Gas Isleworth/Brentford | |
| Posted by: | Lorne Gifford | |
| Date/Time: | 16/01/15 12:40:00 |
| Given that we have a chalk aquifer below us and then nothing that would act as a cap rock between it and the (potential) gas bearing formation, then yes, fracking would be the name of the game for gas extraction. 'Fracking' is fracturing the shale gas formation by injecting very high pressure water mixed with a few chemicals, colloquially called 'slick water'. The chemicals are detergents and acids which penetrate and break up the shale rock to allow all the trapped gas to run to the wells. It's the chemicals that cause the problems because if you inadvertently run a fracture up to the aquifer you end up with drinking water that is bubbly, acidic and full of detergents. ie not very good. When you talk about risk, then this is really the only risk there is. There is no problem with subsidence because the gas is replaced with high pressure water. There's also (next) to no risk of blowouts because the gas pressure is nothing like the high pressures we get from normal reservoirs. There would be disruption though, caused by the drilling site itself which would run 24hrs a day and use high speed diesels for power needs, plus the large number of tankers needed to ship in the chemicals and large number of trucks for drill pipe etc. Plus the drillers themselves - generally an unsavory bunch at the best of times (snigger, personal experience) You'd have to make your own mind up on the balance between the negatives and the positives. The positives of course are that natural gas is the greenest of the fossil fuels, and we all use it for heating and electricity generation so why should we complain about having it in our back yard. For the negatives then I'm not the best person to ask. |