Shale gas, water and human rights in Argentina By Jim Wright ([email protected]) Argentina has the world’s third largest technically recoverable resource of shale gas (802 Tcf), third after the US and China (EIA/ARI World Shale Gas and Shale Oil Resource Assessment, 2013). The resources are found in four Basins, three are in the foothills of the Andes (Neuquén, San Jorge and Austral-Megallanes) in the arid west and Paraná in the humid semi-tropical north - east. Urban people in Argentina are almost all supplied with piped water, whereas rural areas receive only 90% piped water and 5% collecting water from natural water bodies (Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation WHO/UNICEF, 2013). In remote locations the imbalance toward water from natural waters increases. Equitable access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is an integral component of the realization of all human rights (UN Resolution 64/292). In North America the use of green completions to capture methane and multi-well pads to reduce water demand has addressed many of the traditional impacts from shale gas development. In Argentina specific risks relate to the ongoing need for large quantities of water during the fracking process and include competition for safe and clean drinking water in the arid west and both contamination and supply of water to wetlands. Drilling for shale gas has already led to social conflict over access to water in Neuquén where the people of Gelay Ko (“without water”) have previously occupied an Apache gas plant in Zapala over concerns of lack of water and consultation, flaring and contamination of an aquifer. Following a $1.24billion deal between Chevron and YPF in July 2013 for shale development, the indigenous Mapuche community of Neuquén took over four oil rigs operated by YPF to protest the lack of assessment of impact. A major constraint on shale gas development is the ability to export production. In Argentina the four Basins are characterised by conventional gas production and have access to a system of pipelines, including cross border pipelines to Chile and Brazil. Of the four Basins, Neuquén is receiving the most attention from the oil companies (Chevron, YPF, Apache, EOG, ExxonMobil, Total) but is the least attractive in terms of enviro-social impact due to both lack of water and the presence of two Ramsar sites (benefitting from run-off from the Andes). It should be noted that dozens of civil and criminal charges have been lodged with the courts for environmental pollution caused by oil spills in Neuquén arising from conventional oil and gas development (http://www.pagina12.com.ar/). The two remaining westerly Basins are in arid environments but have no Ramsar sites, making them relatively more attractive than Neuquén. Paraná has an abundance of water but is upstream of several Ramsar sites. To date there has been no shale gas exploration on the Argentinean portion of the Paraná Basin. In addition to ongoing problems arising from contamination arising from oil and gas activities, access to safe and clean drinking water will be a significant and ongoing source of conflict between oil companies and local people in the western Basins. Only in Paraná is there unlikely to be conflict over access to water. This issue can soon become a major area of confrontation in the arid Neuquén, San Jorge and Austral-Megallanes Basins given the low level of municipal water supply and the extremely large quantities of water used by the fracking process. .