Focus 193: Unconventional Gas Is Here
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NUMBER 193 | DECEMBER 2015 UNCONVENTIONAL GAS IS HERE IT PRESENTS CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES SOUND POLICIES AND PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE, BASED ON FACT – NOT FEAR – ARE KEY TO BALANCING PROSPERITY AND ENVIRONMENT AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING™ The Academy’s inaugural National Technology Challenges Dialogue is a two-day event in Sydney on 15 and 16 June, 2016. Agribusiness 2030 is an exciting opportunity to exchange ideas Importantly, this event also highlight’s ATSE’s consistent between the nation’s most eminent entrepreneurs, decision commitment to leading the public discussion on Australia’s makers, government officials, researchers, academics and future prosperity with a focus on using the best of Australian and business leaders, who will explore: international technologies to address our national challenges. n the future of agribusiness in the digital age It also incorporates ATSE’s Annual Innovation Dinner on n how this will play-out domestically and globally 15 June where the Clunies Ross Awards for innovation n the opportunities and challenges this offers Australia. commercialisation will be presented. These exciting awards bring together Australia’s top leaders and innovators from research, industry and government and provide a valuable networking opportunity at the nation’s premier annual awards for innovation commercialisation. Dialogue details and registration will, be available on the ATSE website early in 2016. Save the date – 15/16 June 2016 – Agribusiness 2030 AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING™ ATSE_Ag_Conf16.indd 1 30/11/2015 11:41 AM DECEMBER 2015 | FOCUS Contents 13 Time for a new approach to Massive challenges, the social licence issue but we must meet them 16 Science is key to future onshore gas development 3 By Craig Simmons 19 Regulatory reforms required for unconventional gas 23 Alan Finkel is new Chief Scientist Looking after our 24 New leaders for ATSE Forums land and water 24 Rethinking Australian 8 urban transport By John Williams & Ann Milligan 25 New technologies are agribusiness key 25 Name change and graphic upgrade for ATSE The opportunities 29 Collaboration trumps and challenges for complexity in additive 11 manufacturing unconventional gas 40 ATSE in Focus By Peter Cook & Vaughan Beck Front cover photo: 123rf.com PUBLISHER CEO: Dr Margaret Hartley FTSE Editor: Bill Mackey Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and ATSE Focus is produced to stimulate discussion and public policy initiatives on key topics of interest to the Engineering (ATSE) Academy and the nation. Many articles are contributed by ATSE Fellows with expertise in these areas. Opinion Address: articles will be considered for publication. Items between 800 and 1400 words are preferred. Please address Level 1, 1 Bowen Crescent, Melbourne comments, suggested topics and article for publication to [email protected]. Postal Address: GPO Box 4055, Melbourne, Victoria 3001 Deadline for the receipt of copy for next edition of Focus is 15 January 2016. Telephone: 03 9864 0900 Facsimile: 03 9864 0930 Email: [email protected] COPYRIGHT This publication contains copyright material. Some of the material is owned by Australian Academy of ACN 008 520 394 Technological Sciences and Engineering Ltd ACN 008 520 394 (ATSE) and some material is owned by others. ABN 58 008 520 394 All copyright and other intellectual property rights in the materials remain with the owner. No material in this Print Post Publication No 341403/0025 publication may be copied (except as legally allowed) or further disseminated without the express and written ISSN 1326-8708 permission of the holder of that copyright, with the exception of copying for educational purposes. Design and production: Copyright © ATSE 2015 Coretext 03 9670 1168 www.coretext.com.au www.atse.org.au 1 DECEMBER 2015 | FOCUS BY CRAIG SIMMONS [email protected] Massive challenges, but we must meet them UNCONVENTIONAL GAS We need a much greater effort to quantify the likelihood of ‘something bad’ happening due to ‘fracking’ or coal seam gas extraction, and over what time and spatial scales it may occur. Coal seam gas (CSG) and ‘fracking’ are fighting words C in Australia and in many countries around the world. They badge one of the most contentious, controversial and emotive issues of our time. There are legitimate public concerns about what impact CSG and fracking may have on human health and the environment. There are myriad complex social, economic and environmental factors at play. The potential for unconventional hydrocarbon development both in Australia and overseas is enormous. Obviously energy ISTOCK PHOTO: market supply and demand issues will control A complex social, environmental and economic issue. how these resources are ultimately developed into the future. Coal seam gas and the associated extract them. Fluids used for gas fracking or disposed of via injection into aquifers. fracking process are part of what we broadly are usually about 90 per cent water, 9.5 per Depressurisation of the water in the refer to as ‘unconventional hydrocarbon cent material such as sand, and 0.5 per cent aquifer is a key part of the CSG production development’. These gases and hydrocarbons other chemicals. These chemicals aid the process because this allows the gas to are called ‘unconventional’ because unlike fracking process in several ways – reducing be released from pores and fractures in their conventional counterparts, the gas friction and distributing the sand that props the rock. The ‘produced’ water will vary in does not rise naturally and become trapped fractures open, preventing bacterial growth characteristics such as volume, quality and beneath a seal. Rather, the gas is trapped in (which can gum up the cracks in the rock), flow rates depending on how the gas is situ, held within the pores and cracks in the inhibiting scale and corrosion in the casing produced, the wetness of the source rocks, rock under water pressure. and cleaning. and the geology type. Unconventional gas – coal seam gas, But it is this chemical concoction that is Arguably the greatest public concern shale gas and tight gas – are variations on a at the very heart of public concerns regarding related to water impacts is fracking and the theme. There are some similarities but there fracking and coal seam gas production. use of chemical additives that potentially are also some key differences. They vary in Water is an absolutely critical part of contaminate freshwater supplies. Fracking their geology type, the depth of the geologic each and every part of the unconventional has been used since 1947 across all areas layers, and the permeability of the rock. gas extraction process – from production of oil and gas production and, to date, the In some, but not all, cases hydraulic through to potential impacts. It is used technology has been used in some 2.5 million fracturing is used to break up the rock and for drilling and fracking and to enhance wells worldwide. The Wall Street Journal increase the permeability of the rock so additional production in many formations. It reported that fracking accounted for 49 per that these gases may flow to a production is withdrawn when producing the gas, it must cent of US oil production and 54 per cent of well, making it easier and cheaper to be stored or reused in the form of wastewater, natural gas output last February. www.atse.org.au 3 FOCUS | DECEMBER 2015 Hydraulic fracturing is a mature ¢ environmental damage and pollution baseline monitoring. People are still worried technology but the extensive use of caused by many thousands of vehicle trips whether the chemicals used have undergone drilling, the cocktail of chemicals and the to gas wells to deliver water and chemicals, proper health and safety testing. scale of operations make unconventional as well as surface spills and land clearing; Fracking risk depends not only on the gas production novel in many countries. ¢ competition and tension among chemicals used but also on local conditions Public interest and concern about fracking alternative land uses, including farming; of geology and groundwater, as no two wells continues to run high around the world. ¢ a new industry with many uncertainties are the same. Numerous US cities and local and unknowns; The public issues are a broad and hugely governments have banned it. Germany, ¢ large scale and significance of production complex, interacting and competing range France, Scotland, Wales and Luxembourg projects; of difficult social, economic, environmental, have bans or moratoria on its use. ¢ long production timeframes; political, legal and governance matters. There is a long list of public concerns ¢ cumulative impacts of multiple projects or Science is necessary but insufficient in about and technical risks in unconventional wells and difficulty managing them; advancing or solving such problems. There gas production: ¢ immature science, regulation, compliance are many other psychosocial factors at play. ¢ potential contamination of groundwater and monitoring; Novelty (whether mining is new or old from fracking chemicals and released ¢ weaknesses in public consultation; in a region) and financial compensation methane; ¢ water issues managed outside normal are among the many factors that will ¢ leakage of methane gas and its impact on water allocation processes; and be important determinants in social climate change; ¢ piecemeal (partial) approval processes acceptability. ¢ potential toxicity of the 600+ chemicals when a whole-of-landscape