Fracking disclosures create mostly shrugs

Houston Chronicle:

Energy companies have disclosed some of the chemicals pumped into the ground to extract oil and gas at more than 1,700 locations across Texas in the first two months since the state began requiring the site-specific information. 

Yet the early returns have brought a collective shrug in the Eagle Ford play in South Texas, where almost every oil and gas well is hydraulically fractured – or fracked – with a brew of water, sand and chemicals. 

“The regulation is fine, but it’s not going to do any good,” said David Trotter, an oil and gas attorney and a partner in the 4,500-acre Peña Creek Ranch in Dimmit County, on the western flank of the Eagle Ford. “No one will know how to interpret what things go into the frack job one way or another, whether it’s doing any harm or good.” 

Oil and gas drilling has expanded rapidly in the past few years because of hydraulic fracturing. The increased activity has led to calls to disclose the cocktails used to break tightly packed rock containing oil and gas. 

The reports show that drillers employ dozens of chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid and methanol, to help free oil and gas deposits in the shale rock. Chemicals, however, are a small part of the overall mix, which is mostly water and sand. 

Texas is one of at least nine states to require energy companies to disclose most of their chemicals in an attempt to resolve concerns about the safety of drilling. The reports can be found on FracFocus, an industry-supported website operated by two groups representing regulators. 

Even before the Texas rule took effect Feb. 1, companies voluntarily posted their fracturing fluids at 4,200 Texas sites on the registry. As of Friday, Texas had 5,932 oil and gas wells listed at FracFocus, by far the most of any state. 

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Chesapeake reported using recipes with up to 40 ingredients – although water and sand make up more than 98 percent of the fluid. The company pumped about 6 million gallons of water into one well and more than 4 million gallons into each of the other two wells, records show. 

The chemicals include hydrochloric acid to crack the rock, methanol to prevent pipe corrosion, and petroleum distillate hydro­treated light to reduce friction in the well.

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Water and sand are the key ingredients  in most fracking operations and that has not changed over the last 50 years.  Disclosure is probably a good thing.  It makes it harder for the anti energy left to scare people about the process.