So say goodbye to water for your wife, children, and husband. Snip: "From The Wall Street Journal By Russell Gold Antero Resources Inc., an energy company backed by New York private-equity firms, plans to spend more than half a billion dollars on a pipeline. But the 80 miles of pipe won’t transport oil or gas: They will carry water from the Ohio River to fracking sites in West Virginia and Ohio. The project is a costly wager that the hydraulic-fracturing industry’s thirst for reliable sources of water will grow over the next few years. Fracking, an oil-field technique driving the nation’s current energy boom, involves injecting vast quantities of water into the earth, along with other materials, to break up rock formations and unlock trapped oil and gas. Thirsty Process Hydraulic fracturing is a water-intensive business. Average amount of water used to hydraulically fractureasingle Marcellus Shale well: 4.2 million-5 million gallons 4.2 million gallons is enough water for a town of 42,000 people for one day Number of Marcellus Shale wells drilled in 2005-July 2013: 8,700* Percentage of freshwater used: 90% Percentage of water recovered from fracks and reused: 10% Note: *Includes wells drilled and fracked through May 2013 in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia, but doesn’t include every well. Some data are still being processed. Sources: Susquehanna River Basin Commission via Environmental Protection Agency; West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Antero’s big bet on water, which worries some environmental groups, could pay off handsomely for the company’s executives and private-equity backers, who have positioned themselves to get the biggest financial benefit from the pipeline. But some experts say the investment’s long-term success could hinge on the region’s rainfall. Colorado-based Antero, which has announced plans to go public, had oil and gas revenues of about $265 million last year, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company says it is the most active driller in the Marcellus Shale, a gas-rich rock formation that stretches across Pennsylvania and into New York, Ohio and West Virginia. It is also pushing into Ohio’s Utica Shale as well. The company uses a total of about six million gallons of water to frack each of its wells. The proposed pipeline would slash the company’s water costs by two-thirds, or about $600,000 per well, Chance Richie, a water consultant to Antero, said at an industry conference in March. The trucks that now deliver most of that water are a “very, very large expense,” he said. They also contribute to congested roadways in some rural areas. “We are not used to all this traffic—it is like New York City out there,” said Ralph Sandora, a commissioner in rural Doddridge County, W.Va., where Antero has leased more than 100,000 acres for drilling. Mr. Richie referred questions about the project to Antero. Company officials declined to comment. Tapping the Ohio would give the pipeline access to the region’s most dependable source of water. Many of the rivers and streams that Antero now uses run low in the summer, prompting state officials to stop gas-industry withdrawals. A drought in Ohio last year curtailed water to fracking operations. In a permit filed with the Army Corps of Engineers, which regulates water withdrawals from the Ohio River, Antero said it plans to build an intake pipe capable of sucking up 3,360 gallons of river water a minute—or about 4.8 million gallons a day. Pumps would send the water through a 20-inch steel pipe eastward where it would be collected in several large pools before it was piped to drilling pads. The Army Corps has approved part of Antero’s plan, and a decision on the remainder is pending." shalemediagroup/energy-firm-makes-costly-fracking-bet-on-water/
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 00:15:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015