Environmental Aspects of Hydraulic Fracturing Treatment Performed on the Łebień LE-2H Well

Environmental Aspects of Hydraulic Fracturing Treatment Performed on the Łebień LE‐2H Well FINAL REPORT Warsaw, November 2011 Authors: Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute (PGI‐NRI) in Warsaw Monika Konieczyńska Małgorzata Woźnicka Olga Antolak Rafał Janica Grzegorz Lichtarski Magdalena Nidental Jacek Otwinowski Anita Starzycka Bartosz Stec Grzegorz Wróbel Chemical analyses: Central Chemical Laboratory of PGI‐NRI Voivodeship Inspectorate for Environmental Protection in Gdańsk (WIOŚ) – WIOŚ Laboratory in Gdańsk Ryszard Potrykus Barbara Gdaniec Rohde Tomasz Włodarski Chemical analyses: WIOŚ Laboratory in Gdańsk Translation: Wojciech Brochwicz Lewiński 2 1 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................4 1.1 MAJOR AIM OF THIS STUDY............................................................................................................................4 1.2 VENTURE CHARACTERISTICS ...........................................................................................................................4 2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDIED AREA..............................................................................................5 2.1 GEOMORPHOLOGY, TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES AND HYDROGRAPHY.........................................................................5 2.2 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE............................................................................................................................... 6 2.3 HYDROGEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS ....................................................................................................................7 2.4 LAND USE PATTERNS AND LANDSCAPE VALUES ...................................................................................................9 2.5 AREAS UNDER LEGAL PROTECTION AND RESTRICTED AND LIMITED USE LANDS.........................................................13 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING PROCESS.................................................................... 17 4 IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL RISKS.................................................................................................. 21 5 IDENTIFICATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS EXPOSED TO INFLUENCE ......................................... 28 6 SCOPE OF STUDIES AND SPATIAL EXTENT OF THE ANALYSIS................................................................. 30 7 RESULTS OF THE STUDIES .................................................................................................................... 39 7.1 SEISMIC EVENTS ........................................................................................................................................39 7.2 EMISSIONS (GASES, NOISE, RADIATION)..........................................................................................................39 7.3 POSSIBLE SHALE GAS EXHALATIONS................................................................................................................42 7.4 TECHNOLOGICAL FLUIDS AND WASTE .............................................................................................................44 7.5 INFLUENCE ON SURFACE WATER....................................................................................................................49 7.6 IMPACT ON GROUNDWATER.........................................................................................................................51 8 SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURING TILL THE END OF WORKS ........ 59 9 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES AND OBSERVATIONS ..................................................... 63 10 SUMMARY AND GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................ 66 11 REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................ 68 12 LIST OF ANNEXES................................................................................................................................. 70 3 1 Introduction 1.1 Major aim of this study The major aim of works of a consortium led by the Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute (PGI‐NRI) was to assess environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing carried out in August 2011 in the Łebień LE‐2H exploratory well operated by the Lane Energy Poland company of the 3Legs Resources Group. The works were ordered by the Ministry of Environment in agreement with the operator. In that well, the hydraulic fracturing of a horizontal section has been performed for the first time in Poland. The permission to drill that well was granted in the license no. 16/2007p for prospecting and exploration of unconventional gas resources. The hydraulic fracturing operations were conducted in accordance with Annex no.1 to the Work Plan approved by the Director of the Regional Mining Authority in Poznań. In accordance with the above mentioned permit. The Łebień LE‐2H well has targeted unconventional gas resources in fine‐ grained rocks of the Silurian and Ordovician. 1.2 Venture characteristics The Lane Energy Poland Ltd.. of the 3Legs Resources group is conducting exploration at Rekowo Lęborskie locality in line with the conditions of the concession No 16/2007p issued on 23.10.2007. The concession has been granted for prospecting and exploration of oil and gas resources in the Lębork license area situated in onshore part of the Baltic Sea basin in northern Poland. The works were aimed at exploration of occurrences of gas in Lower Silurian and Ordovician shales and assessment of technical possibilities for establishing its commercial production. The Łebień LE‐2H well was localized at the plot no.147/1, Rekowo geodesic precint, Nowa Wieś Lęborska commune (Lębork District, Pomeranian Voivodeship). The drilling rig occupies an area of 3.74 hectares, situated by the local (district) road from Łebień to Rekowo Lęborskie, in north‐eastern part of the commune. The well site is 2 to 4 km distant from areas of the neighboring communes of the Lębork (Wicko) and Wejherowo districts (Choczewo and Łęczyce). Within the frame of exploratory works, a vertical well named LE‐1 was made down to 3.5 km depth in the license area in 2010 (drilling started in June 2010) and hydraulic fracturing treatment was performed on a small scale (single stage hydraulic fracturing treatment) in November 2010. Drilling of the second well with a horizontal section, named LE‐2H, was completed in June 2011. Total depth of the well is 4,075 m and the horizontal section is oriented towards the south—southwest (SSW) and 1,000 m long. The drilling rig had its own water intake to cover needs for cooling and hydro‐ fracturing operations. The water intake is situated in western part of the well site area. The water supply system consists of two wells: a production well (no. SW‐1) and a backup one (no. SW‐2), drawing water from Quaternary aquifer. The exploitable water 3 resources approved for that intake are equal Qe=10,0 m /h (in accordance with Decision No. 370/10 of the Head of the Lębork District, ref. OŚ.III.6224‐01/01, from June 24, 2010 – 4 water rights permit /water supply consent/ for construction of casings of the SW‐1 and SW‐2 wells and installing pumping system at the site of the Łebień LW1 well). In the well site area, two reservoirs for storing technical water were built by excavation in the ground. Storage volume of these reservoirs is 6,000 i 12,000 m3. 2 Characteristics of the studied area 2.1 Geomorphology, topographic features and hydrography According to physicogeographic subdivision of Poland [Kondracki, 2000], the studied area belongs to the Pobrzeże Koszalińskie (Koszalin Coastland) macroregion and the Wysoczyzna Żarnowiecka (Żarnowiec Plateau) mesoregion, which border the Łeba and Reda proglacial river valley to the south and west, the Słowińskie Coastland to the north and the Kaszuby Coastland (Gdańsk Coastland macroregion) to the east. The Wysoczyzna Żarnowiecka (Lęborska) Plateau is a ground moraine left by the youngest glaciation and cut by post‐glacial channels and valleys into plateau hillocks. The well site is situated at the Tawęcińska Kępa Hillock, the top surface of which rises up to 90 m asl in sit northern part and up to 70 m in the southern. To the east, the Tawęcińska Kępa Hillock is separated from the Salińska Kępa Hillock by the Zwartowska channel and Kisewska Struga valley and to the west ‐ from the Redkowicka Kępa by the Reknica (Lędziechowska) valley. Valley depressions with flat floors (Fig. 1) are used by rivers and streams: Kisewska Struga (tributary of Łeba river) and Chełst (flowing into Sarbsko lake) and Reknica (Rekowska Struga, tributary of Kisewa river) and Lędziechowska Struga (tributary of Białogardzka Struga river). Fig. 1. Topography of land surface and River network (source: CBDG) 5 The depressions are important for the wealth of nature in the studied area as they are the sites of occurrence of forest, meadow and peatbog communities and numerous hydrographic elements. The depressions play the role of local ecological corridors (Studium…, 2010). The studied area is situated within the boundaries of drainage basin of the Łeba River, one of rivers of the coastland. The creek flowing at the smallest (2.5 km) distance from the well site is the Kisewska Struga, a right tributary joining the Łeba River under the name of Kisewa (Fig.2) The water divide separating drainage basins of the Kisewska Struga

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