1 Shale Gas (D: unkonventionelles Erdgas ) Aus: W. Zittel (ASPO) Kurzstudie Unkonventionelles Erdgas, 2010
Shale + Tight Gas (worldwide resources) In total: shale gas volume convential gas tight gas 50% convential gas In Europe Aus: W. Zittel (ASPO) Kurzstudie Unkonventionelles Erdgas, 2010 Bakken
Pittburgh Harrisburg Philadelphia New York Washington Baltimore Ca. 760 m Ca. 1520 m Ca. 2740 m Shale Gas in PA (appr. 14% of Northern American res.) PA since 2008 Today + 85 mio. cbm gas/d Aus: W. Zittel (ASPO) Kurzstudie Unkonventionelles Erdgas, 2010
Marcellus Fast Facts Covers about 246,049 km2 in 6 states Occurs at depths of up to 2,743 m Thickness of 76 m or more Largest natural gas reservoir in North America (est. 14,100 bio. m3 recoverable gas w/> 2 o/oo produced to date) Sufficient reserves to satisfy US demand for 20+ years Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel ~45% less CO2 emissions than coal and ~30% less than oil, Minimal SOx/NOx/particulates No mercury Well Drilling Locations Today in operation: 553 wells Future estimate: 1,600 wells
Exploration & drilling process Drill site development & preparation (sev. weeks) Drilling (1 2 months) Frac-process preparation (2 4 months) production of water/proppant mixture Hydraulic fracturing process under high pressure (sev. days), introduced by Halliburton 1949 Pressure reduction, flowback water storage, treatment and disposal/reuse (10%) (2 8 weeks), other source: 9 35% flowback Gas exploitation (years) If necessary repeating of frac-process
Well Site in Development Wastewater tanks Well Site in Operation
Frac-based drilling: specifics Av. 1 drilling hole per 16 ha, 6 holes per km² Av. (base: Barnett Shale) per drill hole - 10 24,000 cbm water /drill hole - 250 600 truck loads of water - 250 600 Mg sand (appr. 20% + appr. 0.5 1% chemicals for proppant mixture production - appr. 40 truckloads of flowback water (1.000 2.400 cbm) mixture of chemicals (51..200 parameters) (TDS up to appr. 0.3 max.) i.g. unknown mix - acid package - anti-scaling solids - biocides - salts (chlorides and other) Approved Consumptive Water Use in Susquehanna River Basin 8-10 mgd* 30 38.000 cbm/d Per SRBC Presentation, Aug. 2010 Source: Pa Fish and Boat Commission *Estimated based on recent SRBC/DEP data
Water Use Data in Susquehanna Basin Total water use: 6 billion cbm on 553 wells (6/08 to 3/11) 2.1 bio. cbm from public water supply (35%) 41 public sources permitted 3.9 bio. cbm from surface water sites (65%) >130 surface water sources permitted Average total volume of fluid used per well: 16,000 cbm per well 14,400 cbm of fresh water (90%) 1,600 cbm of reused flowback (10%) 30-day avg. recovery of flowback: 8% Total amount flowback: 442,000 cbm (6/08 to 3/11), av. 433 cbm/d Reuse 283,000 cbm Disposal 159,000 cbm 64% flowback reuse Water Supply Management Number of factors to consider: Access to water near the drilling project area (public vs. self supply) Transport to well site: piping vs. trucking Availability-seasonal or perennial Will pass-by flows be required? Water quality Permitting complexity Storage
Hydraulic Fracturing Process Source: Chesapeake Energy -Each well uses about of water11 26,000 cbm -Approximately 8-10% of the fluids return as flowback water Flowback Water Quality Trends
Flowback Water Management Options Flowback management options Direct reuse (blending) On-site treatment w/reuse Off-site treatment w/reuse Off-site treatment and disposal Chemical precipitation, evaporation, filtration being utilized Approximately two-thirds of flowback being recycled New treatment standards for new or expanding treatment facilities TDS-500 mg/l Chlorides-250 mg/l Barium and Strontium-10 mg/l Only 1 plant in PA meets standards (new standards since begin 2011 currently under review again) 4 recycling plants with ~7,950 cbm/d capacity -3 have zero discharge Typical Flowback Scaling Agent Concentrations Cation Barium: Strontium: Calcium: Magnesium: Manganese: Iron: Concentration 2,000-5,000 mg/l 1,000-7,000 mg/l 10,000-25,000 mg/l 500-1,000 mg/l 2-10 mg/l 20-200 mg/l These concentrations need to be reduced to minimize the potential for downhole scaling and plugging.
Typical Treatment Scheme for Reuse 36% Chemical precipitation can have >99% removal efficiency for potential scaling agents Can generate several tons of sludge per 100,000 gallons treated Flowback Treatment Specifications Example industry flowback treatment levels for recycling purposes: Total cations in the <10 to <2,000 ppm range Acceptable levels range from company to company Primary focus on Ba and Sr, but Ca also a concern Ba, Sr, Fe, Mn, Mg < 10 ppm Ca <1,000 ppm Hardness <2,500 Processed water sulfates levels <30 ppm TSS <30 ppm TDS is variable, >50,000 ppm can be acceptable Radioactive ingredients: Ra 226 (1000 times above drinking water tolerance level)
Emerging Water Management Trends Use of alternative water sources Groundwater supply wells closer to drilling Municipal wastewater use (2 plants in permitting process) Acid mine drainage Flowback recycling Estimated three-fold increase in last 2 years Expected to increase as grandfathered facilities phased out On-site treatment technologies (VEOLIA) Evaporation Filtration Chemical precipitation Closed loop drilling and fluids storage Lined well pads to minimize releases Regulatory monitoring down stream from discharges Investigation of underground injection wells for disposal Brine-Disposal: deep well infiltration (Ohio 200 km distance) Approximate location of permitted recycling facility
Flowback water treatment So far 20 plants in op. - 16 partial treatment in municipal WWTPs (no longer permitted) - 4 stationary recycling plants left (7,600 cbm/d) + (emerging) mobile units of Veolia - estimates: total 2,000 cbm/d Prices (first estimates, hearsay-info): - central facilities: 0.38 0.57 $/cbm - MSF-plants: 0.95 1.14 $/cbm - mobile units???? Flowback water treatment Veolia MULTIFLO Capacity: up to 1,590 cbm/d New competitors for mobile plants: Aquatech (Pittsburgh) Lanxess (?)
Flowback water treatment 20 proposed new plants, appr. 400 new wells/yr appr. 800,000 cbm/yr additional flowback w. > 2 mobile units, if coordinated in optimum sequence Preferred processes - chemical precipitation - mech. vapour decompression (MES, MSF) - nano filtration? - > 50% mobile units, preferrably no effluent beside reuse Existing operators: - stationary plants: SME? Local players - mobile plants: SME + large players Opportunities for GWP Business opportunities? - consulting, technology supply? - plant/component supply - BOOT, BOO projects Market volume? (today unknown, just starting, new level of requirements) flowback water treatment becoming limiting factor for further shale gas exploitation for comparison: last years invest. in roads alone: > 500 mio. $/yr water trucking: 800.000 cbm x 200 km x 0,2 $/km*mg = 32 Mio. $/yr
Market Opportunities for GWP PA authorities Operation + discharge permit Land owner drilling permit drilling & gas production 5a lease company Flowback brine contract flowback reuse trucking company Flowback brine water quality survey Water body Treated flowback discharge (36%) Service contract Treatment plant operator Sludge / brine Landfill operator (deep well operator) Thank you! Questions? 30