Japan Starts Commercial Fracking for (a Little) Shale Oil in 2014 and Human Induced Earthquakes

[Uncle Joe]

By MARI IWATA
Apr 9, 2014 8:00 am JST

Japan Petroleum Exploration, or Japex, said this week that it has started commercial production of shale oil in the northern prefecture, the first such case in Japan.

Hydraulic fracturing–in which sand, chemicals and water are pumped at high pressure down a well to break up dense rock formations–has transformed the U.S. industry. Fracking has allowed companies to access “tight” oil in shale formations. North Dakota is now producing nearly a million barrels a day thanks to fracking and other new technologies.

Japex said it was also using hydraulic fracturing, with somewhat less impressive results. It said daily production at the Akita site was about 220 barrels a day. The company said the production made economic sense despite the minimal volume because the company has been operating in the area for decades and can use existing pipelines and processing facilities. It declined to offer an estimate of oil reserves in Akita.

Any drop of oil is valuable in Japan, which has to import almost all of its fossil fuels, but there’s another potential gain for Japex, which is 30%-owned by the Japanese government. The company has a stake in a shale gas project in Canada and wants to learn more about technologies used in shale development, a spokesman said.


http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/04/09/japan-starts-commercial-fracking-for-a-little-shale-oil/

Here's the U.S. Earthquake Forecast, Now Including the Quakes We Cause

Towns on the Great Plains are built to withstand tornadoes. Earthquakes are a new thing.
A cluster of central states surrounding Oklahoma now faces the highest risk of earthquakes induced by human activities "such as fluid injection or extraction," according to a short-term seismic forecast by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The report, which for the first time includes quakes that may be linked to oil and gas production, comes after an alarming six-year rise in the incidence of quakes throughout the central and eastern U.S. There, some seven million people, concentrated near Oklahoma City and Dallas-Fort Worth, face an increased risk of earthquakes.

There were more than 1,000 quakes last year with a magnitude greater than 3 on the 10-point Richter scale, up from an annual average of 24 between 1973 and 2008. The states facing the highest risk from human-induced quakes are, in order, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arkansas, according to the report, published Monday. The largest populations at risk live in Texas and Oklahoma.

Scientists predict that any damage would probably be on par with some of the cracking in homes and commercial buildings already witnessed since the oil-and-gas boom began. North-central Oklahoma is the most prone to quakes this year, according to the research, with a 12 percent risk.

The link to the energy industry is largely based on wastewater from wells subjected to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the engineering advance that let drillers free hydrocarbons trapped in shale. The production process yields a lot of water, which may be disposed of by injecting it into storage wells. That is the practice suspected in the increased earthquake activity.

As the number of quakes in Oklahoma, Texas, and other central states has risen in the last decade, so has concern among local residents, environmentalists, and regulators. Oklahoma saw a 5.1-magnitude temblor in February, coincidentally three days before the Sierra Club sued three companies under a federal law governing dangerous waste disposal. It’s the latest in a string of accusations against companies involved in the disposal of wastewater.

(snip)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-28/u-s-quake-forecast-includes-human-induced-temblors-for-first-time

[djean111]

1. Ya just can't get enough earthquakes, amiright? n/t

[Uncle Joe]

2. Apparently not. "Chevron Hears Concerns About Gas Fracking, Ecuador at Meeting 2012

SAN RAMON, Calif. - Chevron Corp. tried to focus attention Wednesday on its plans to expand oil and gas production, but the company's use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and its ongoing environmental battle in Ecuador arose as key issues.

Activist shareholders from Ecuador and other countries spoke at the company's annual meeting and asked Chevron to live up to its responsibilities in Ecuador, where Texaco, an oil company that Chevron bought several years ago, used to have oil operations.

Later in the day, lawyers representing residents of an Amazon rain forest disclosed that they filed a lawsuit in Canada against Chevron. The plaintiffs said they aim to seize assets there belonging to Chevron as part of their effort to collect an $18.2 billion judgment they won in Ecuador in a pollution case.

Earlier in the day, Chevron shareholders voted on eight shareholder resolutions, including one that would require the company to report on the risks it faces in drilling for natural gas using fracking, a horizontal drilling technique in which water, sand and chemicals are injected at high pressure into underground wells to extract natural gas. A second proposal would have called for the company to appoint an independent chairman of the board who is not a company executive. None of the shareholder proposals obtained a majority of favorable votes.

(snip)

"Fracking is not a new technology, but it has come to new areas," Watson told reporters after the meeting. "I think there are legitimate concerns, and we're willing to address them."

But Larry Fahn, president of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, which sponsored the proposal requesting a report from Chevron on the risks of gas production, said concerns about pollution, road congestion and other problems are growing among communities near gas fields. He added that some of Chevron's rivals have voluntarily provided more information about their fracking activities.

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/118264/Chevron_Hears_Concerns_About_Gas_Fracking_Ecuador_at_Meeting