Fracking for Oil in CHina’s Earthquake Zone

Oil companies begin ‘fracking’ in China’s most dangerous earthquake zone

Published time: August 01, 2013 10:29
Edited time: August 01, 2013 12:05
Reuters / StringerReuters / Stringer

The Chinese want to join the shale gas revolution, even if it means drilling for oil in China’s earthquake hot bed in the Sichuan region, where nearly 70,000 died in an earthquake in 2008.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and China National Petroleum have started ‘fracking’ operations in the province.

China hopes to boost annual shale gas production to 6.5 billion cubic meters by 2015, and reserves are estimated at about 1,115 trillion cubic feet, according to the US Energy Information Administration, higher than the estimated 665 trillion gas reserves on American soil.

Europe’s largest oil company plans to invest $1 billion per year in China’s shale gas industry, as part of its goal to increase global output to four million barrels of oil and gas by 2017-2018, up from current levels of 3.3 million.

Drilling for oil in the Longmenshan mountain range, where India and Asia meet, could increase tremors in the already highly-sensitive area.

The hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ process of extracting oil from the earth is invasive and is believed by many to be a direct earthquake instigator.

Extraction by ‘fracking’ involves pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals into the ground, which creates excess hydro waste, which over time, causes tectonic stress.

“We do detailed structural analysis as a routine part of our pre-drill evaluation,” Shi Jiangtao, a Shell spokesman in Beijing, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg. “This means that we evaluate the geology by using seismic, surface geology, nearby well data, etc.”

There is strong correlative evidence between deep underground wells and nearby earthquakes, both in the US and China.

An investigation by the US Geological Survey found that ‘fracking’ and quakes aren’t directly related, but noted, “at some locations the increase in seismicity coincides with the injection of wastewater in deep disposal wells.”

Human-induced earthquakes would be controversial in a region which experienced one of the deadliest earthquakes in China’s history, which killed nearly 70,000, including 5,335 school children in a 2008 quake in Wenchuan, Sichuan region.

 

Thousands of people flock to look at the devastated town of Beichuan on May 12, 2009 which was destroyed in the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake (AFP Photo / Peter Parks)Thousands of people flock to look at the devastated town of Beichuan on May 12, 2009 which was destroyed in the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake (AFP Photo / Peter Parks)

The boom in oil and gas ‘fracking’ has led to jobs, billions in royalties and profits, and even some environmental gains.

The shale industry boom in the US may add as much as $690 billion to GDP and create 1.7 million jobs by 2020, according to a study by McKinsey and Co. The oil boom has boosted domestic employment, company profits, and GDP in the US, and China is eager to follow suit, even it means drilling in earthquake territory.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, China National Petroleum, and China Petrochemical Corp all currently have drilling operations in the region.

Environmental concerns

Geologists also raise concerns over the amount of water used in ‘fracking’, and whether China’s shale ambitions could run the water supply dry.

China, home to roughly 20 percent of the world’s population, only controls 6 percent of the world’s fresh water supply, and often experiences serious water shortages. Adding ‘fracking’ to this equation could only further exacerbate the problem. Toxic chemicals used in fracking alter the drinking water.

Shale gas is often found ‘in the middle of nowhere’, places that are already prone to water shortages.

Environmentalists in China have also voiced concern over contamination and pollution brought on by ‘fracking’ waste disposal.

Shell’s earnings hit hard by shale gas

Royal Dutch Shell’s earnings fell $1.1 billion in Q2, year on year, blaming poor performance on higher operating costs, disruptions in Nigeria, and a weakening Aussie currency. Total revenue fell by 5.6 percent.

Net income fell by 57 percent in the second quarter, which was partly due to $2.2 billion the company had to write off on shale exploration and development in the United States.

China’s eagerness to exploit shale gas opens an opportunity for foreign investors looking for a start-up opportunity.

“In the next 18 months we expect to see five major project start-ups, which should add over $4bn to our 2015 cash flow,” said Peter Voser, CEO of Shell, said in relation to quarterly results.

Shell is planning to sell four more oil blocks in Nigeria, and is eyeing selling other assets in the Niger Delta, where oil theft and violence has stunted revenue.

It has already sold eight Niger Delta licenses for a total $1.8bn since 2010, but has publicly announced it remains committed to operations in Nigeria.

from:    http://rt.com/business/china-gas-shale-earthquake-895/

Turning Air into Oil — A New Alchemy?

Scientists turn fresh air into petrol: is breakthrough a milestone on the road to clean energy?

 264 12 907

By Steven Connor
Friday, 19 October 2012

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A small British company has produced the first “petrol from air” using a revolutionary technology that promises to solve the energy crisis as well as helping to curb global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Air Fuel Synthesis in Stockton-on-Tees has produced five litres of petrol since August when it switched on a small refinery that manufactures gasoline from carbon dioxide and water vapour.

The company hopes that within two years it will build a larger, commercial-scale plant capable of producing a ton of petrol a day. It also plans to produce green aviation fuel to make airline travel more carbon-neutral.

Tim Fox, head of energy and the environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London, said: “It sounds too good to be true, but it is true. They are doing it and I’ve been up there myself and seen it. The innovation is that they have made it happen as a process. It’s a small pilot plant capturing air and extracting CO2 from it based on well known principles. It uses well-known and well-established components but what is exciting is that they have put the whole thing together and shown that it can work.”

Although the process is still in the early developmental stages and needs to take electricity from the national grid to work, the company believes it will eventually be possible to use power from renewable sources such as wind farms or tidal barrages.

“We’ve taken carbon dioxide from air and hydrogen from water and turned these elements into petrol,” said Peter Harrison, the company’s chief executive, who revealed the breakthrough at a conference at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.

“There’s nobody else doing it in this country or indeed overseas as far as we know. It looks and smells like petrol but it’s a much cleaner and clearer product than petrol derived from fossil oil,” Mr Harrison told The Independent.

“We don’t have any of the additives and nasty bits found in conventional petrol, and yet our fuel can be used in existing engines,” he said.

“It means that people could go on to a garage forecourt and put our product into their car without having to install batteries or adapt the vehicle for fuel cells or having hydrogen tanks fitted. It means that the existing infrastructure for transport can be used,” Mr Harrison said.

Being able to capture carbon dioxide from the air, and effectively remove the principal industrial greenhouse gas resulting from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, has been the holy grail of the emerging green economy.

Using the extracted carbon dioxide to make petrol that can be stored, transported and used as fuel for existing engines takes the idea one step further. It could transform the environmental and economic landscape of Britain, Mr Harrison explained.

“We are converting renewable electricity into a more versatile, useable and storable form of energy, namely liquid transport fuels. We think that by the end of 2014, provided we can get the funding going, we can be producing petrol using renewable energy and doing it on a commercial basis,” he said.

“We ought to be aiming for a refinery-scale operation within the next 15 years. The issue is making sure the UK is in a good place to be able to set up and establish all the manufacturing processes that this technology requires. You have the potential to change the economics of a country if you can make your own fuel,” he said.

The initial plan is to produce petrol that can be blended with conventional fuel, which would suit the high-performance fuels needed in motor sports. The technology is also ideal for remote communities that have abundant sources of renewable electricity, such solar energy, wind turbines or wave energy, but little in the way of storing it, Mr Harrison said.

“We’re talking to a number of island communities around the world and other niche markets to help solve their energy problems.

“You’re in a market place where the only way is up for the price of fossil oil and at some point there will be a crossover where our fuel becomes cheaper,” he said.

Although the prototype system is designed to extract carbon dioxide from the air, this part of the process is still too inefficient to allow a commercial-scale operation.

The company can and has used carbon dioxide extracted from air to make petrol, but it is also using industrial sources of carbon dioxide until it is able to improve the performance of “carbon capture”.

Other companies are working on ways of improving the technology of carbon capture, which is considered far too costly to be commercially viable as it costs up to £400 for capturing one ton of carbon dioxide.

However, Professor Klaus Lackner of Columbia University in New York said that the high costs of any new technology always fall dramatically.

“I bought my first CD in the 1980s and it cost $20 but now you can make one for less than 10 cents. The cost of a light bulb has fallen 7,000-fold during the past century,” Professor Lackner said.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/scientists-turn-fresh-air-into-petrol-is-breakthrough-a-milestone-on-the-road-to-clean-energy-16226456.html?r=RSS&google_editors_picks=true#ixzz2AcOxkHRU