Moving Beyond Misinformation: Education and Engagement

Moving Beyond Misinformation: Education and Engagement

The Process

Misperception: Hydraulic Fracturing is Injecting Fluids

into Groundwater

Drilling Distance

Wells Fargo Center ~700 ft

7000 ft.

Aquifer 400-800 ft.

Casing

Multiple layers surrounding the aquifer Cement Conductor Casing Cement Surface Casing Drilling Mud/Cement Production Casing Production Tubing

Surface Casing Purpose

• Protect ground water• Provide stable wellbore

during drilling operation• Provide well control during

drilling Depth Requirements

• Set by State and BLM regulations

• Extends below the aquifer Cement Helps

• Protect casing from corrosion

• Provide zonal isolation• Support casing in wellbore

Production Casing Purpose

• Provide zonal isolation• Provide well control• Well path to productive

intervals Cement Requirements

• Set by State regulations• Set by BLM regulations• Operator requirements

Cement Helps• Protect casing from

corrosion• Support casing in

wellbore

Misperception: Hydraulic Fracturing is Not Engineered

Fracture Design Data Required

Petrophysics/Formation properties k, Φ, ν, E, σ, Pp, BHT

Fluid properties Multitude of fluid types n’, K’, μ, break profile,

Pf, Proppant properties

Variety of proppant types

β, sg, size, CD0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Time (hr)

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0.0001

0.001

K'

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Time (hr)

0.6

0.8

1.0

n'

HALLIBURTON FLUID PROPERTIES Fluid

WG-18Temp

200GelConc

30

StimWin v4.8.003-Dec-06 13:33 Predict-K

3.0

Pump Schedule A pump schedule is required for the

simulator to determine the predicted fracture geometry• Fluid and proppant volumes• Treatment rate• Additive rates

Frac Job

Treatment Graph

5/30/200308:50 09:00 09:10 09:20 09:30 09:40 09:50 10:00 10:10 10:20

5/30/200310:30

Time

0

2500

5000

7500

10000

12500A

0

30

60

90

120

150B

0

10

20

30

40

50C

Casing Pressure (psi) Bottom Hole Pressure (psi) Slurry Rate (bpm)Surface Proppant Conc (lb/gal) BH Prop Con

A A BC C

StimWin v4.8.006-Dec-06 17:42

Frac Job

Misperception: Drilling is Getting Riskier

Fractured Contact

Footprint

1 Well Pad or 32?

Misperception: Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing Uses Too

Much Water

Colorado Water Use

  Total (Million gallons/Day) Total (Billion gallons/Year)

Irrigation (crop) 12,322 4497

Irrigation (golf course) 41 14

Public-supply 864 315

Domestic 34 12

Industrial 142 52

Livestock 33 12

Mining 21 8

Thermo-electric 123 45

Total withdrawals 13,581 4957

Source: USGS 2005 Estimated Withdrawals and Use of Water in Colorado, 2005

Horizontal Well Activity

2011 517 Horizontal wells permitted

2009-2011 220 Horizontal wells spud

Example: 1,000 wells x 5M gal = 5B gal 0.11% of Colorado annual irrigation water use 0.10% of Colorado annual water use

Estimate All Well Activity

2010 2098 wells completed

2011 Estimate Water Use 1000 horizontal wells (5M gal) 1500 vertical wells (1M gal)

Conservative Estimate: 0.14% of Colorado annual irrigation water use 0.13% of Colorado annual water use

Water Requirements

Natural gas has one of the lowest water usage rates per MMBTU

Misperception: There is No Data Showing Groundwater is

Protected

COGCC Groundwater complaints

Hundreds of complaints No verified instances of hydraulic fracturing

harming groundwater in Colorado Water sampling

Since 2000, baseline and periodic water sampling for over 2,000 water wells in the San Juan Basin

Independently verified; no significant increase in chemical concentrations

Meaningful Engagement and Education

FracFocus Website

23

HF Disclosure Example

Baseline Water Sampling

Pre and Post-drilling water samples taken around new well starts

Increased transparency & accountability for industry

COGA Fast Facts

Resources

Hydraulic Fracturing Fact Sheet COGCC Gasland Correction Document COGA’s The Truth About Gasland Other Fact Sheets

• Natural Gas Facts• Socioeconomic Benefits• Produced Water• Natural Gas Supply

www.coga.org

Questions?

Thank you for your interest in Colorado’s oil and gas industry!

www.coga.org