This is fracking unbelievable, restart the gravy train, Leitrim to the rescue

Another recent report here for anyone who is interested in getting a balanced view on things:

http://energy.utexas.edu/images/ei_shale_gas_regulation120215.pdf

It addresses the issue of real Vs. perceived consequences of shale gas development. It's by far the most comprehensive report thats out there IMO

Company behind €7bn gas fracking plan has never used process before

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/company-behind-7bn-gas-fracking-plan-has-never-used-process-before-3032904.html

I was going to quote chunks but ended up copying nearly the entire article.

Suffice it say that there is nothing here that you couldn't have learned from just looking at their web site. I wouldn't necessarily hold any of the points made against them. You just have to take them into account when they're making statements.

They're in the business of identifying areas of geological interest, getting planning, and selling on the rights to a big player. That's the exploration business for you.

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Is their any actual independant scientific data on the environmental harm (or lack thereof) that fracking does.

It's seems to be one of those issues that all of the research is either done by the mining company themselves to make everything seem sunshine and lollipops or by eco-warrior pseudoscientists to show how the whole thing is going to kill us all again because the climate change angle sort of fizzled.

There is very very little peer reviewed scientific date on the environmental harm. However, Duke University has produced a paper and you can watch an interview with the author, Rob Jackson, at the following. Like a real scientist he is very cautious, yet the data are non the less damning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq0LFhw-klM

Paddy De Plasterer wrote: »

I see O Cuiv wants a new enquiry into Fracking. This man has gone strange since he went into Opposition from being a gov minister under Bertie & Biffo...

he can also have a chin-wag with the junior minister colleague who signed off

on the granting of fracking licences; who as soon as was booted out of

office high-tailed it to distant Moscow..

All of this 55bn is unproven resources at this stage.
Its also unclear from recent announcements if this figure is for the whole basin ( NW carboniferous basin which stretches Donegal,Sligo,Leitrim,Fermanagh,Cavan,Roscommon,Monaghan,Tyrone,Mayo) or whether its for the N Leitrim portion of gas. In the initial press release it was for just N Leitrim portion, but recently Tamboran keep talking about the basin. This wouldn't surprise me- They talked about 4 acre pads in press release and 500 wells in N Leitrim in press release but a January paper since presented to government talks about 7 acre pads with 24wells / pad .. ie 1440 wells for N Leitrim. There's no mention of the 120 mile gas pipeline and compressor network needed to collect the gas. Nor is there any mention of truck logistics by 2015 we're looking at 20000 extra truck journeys in the N Leitrim/W Fermanagh area annually.. by 2018 112000.
We're effectively looking at rezoning of agricultural land to industrial use. And it will happen.. eg in Fermanagh Farmers have already been informed their insurance won't cover them if fracking takes place on or near their land so forcing families off the land.
One wonders whether this is a land grab or a Shale gas company. Tamboran is firmly in the former camp, wanting to grab licenced areas for onward sale to the big gas producers. I can only think once they've a foothold, then other areas will follow as "targetted secondary, tertiary etc.. areas of exploration and development".

And once the government starts this it cannot stop it. lets be clear on that - the terms of the licences in the Republic would guarantee that. Its all well to say --- its only Leitrim.. but there are other great swathes of the island sitting on Shale..

old_aussie wrote: »

Any sign of the US led invasion yet?

I wonder what reason the US will use to invade Ireland to get your gas.

Tamboran have stated that they need a "strategic partner" to exploit the gas field - Whether that be Shell or Haliburton no one knows. Interestingly they will have to drill outside their initial target area - that's obvious from the figures they're giving - so this ain't just N Leitrim/W Fermanagh - They talk of 100-200 K acres of Bundoran shale, and using their estimate of recoverable gas for the field then 170K acres is approx whats needed. Their initial target area was approx 70K acres, so we're already looking @ 2-3 times that area. Indeed in the initial target area they were looking at nearly 3000 wells - 24 wells/pad, with 3 horizontal legs (Multilaterals - another first) - 72 Fracks per pad. So its no wonder that they admitted that its now 9000 wells that are required to exploit the shale.

To put that in perspective.. 10 million litres of water (2 million gals) are required per frack [ low estimate]. So we're looking at 270 Billion Litres of water minimum requirements - or a lake 4 1/2 times the size of Upper Loch McNean which sits in the middle of this gas field. [If we calculate average depth of water in L McNean @ 6Metres].

The other problem is frack flowback - given 25%-50% comes back - then we're not looking @ 5 gallon drums sitting on these sites to capture the flowback - we're looking at large enough containers to hold more than the volume of water in Loch Mc Nean. ... but don't worry there's nice pictures for the politicians of a little christmas tree arrangement with a small plastic container in Tamboran's ''footprint'' slides.

So We in Fermanagh and Leitrim feel duty bound to share this bountiful waster water with the rest of Ireland. We're told its harmless, and can be spread on the roads to de-ice them. I figure we've enough here so the rest of the district/county councils are welcome to have it spread on the roads and pavements in the winter. Think about it - with frost free roads, your car insurance will go down. City dwellers can go from their gas heated homes, along frost free roads to buy imported food and water from gas powered shops - all thanks to Leitrim and Fermanagh gas.

meenaghman wrote: »

To put that in perspective.. 10 million litres of water (2 million gals) are required per frack [ low estimate]. So we're looking at 270 Billion Litres of water minimum requirements - or a lake 4 1/2 times the size of Upper Loch McNean which sits in the middle of this gas field. [If we calculate average depth of water in L McNean @ 6Metres].

The other problem is frack flowback - given 25%-50% comes back - then we're not looking @ 5 gallon drums sitting on these sites to capture the flowback - we're looking at large enough containers to hold more than the volume of water in Loch Mc Nean. ... but don't worry there's nice pictures for the politicians of a little christmas tree arrangement with a small plastic container in Tamboran's ''footprint'' slides.

I don't think you understand how this "fracking" operation works. You only need enough fluid to open up a fracture within the rocks. This depends on the geology of the area - shale is ideal as fractures tend to run across horizontal bedding plains where the poppant (which is the stuff left behind from the hydraulic fracturing fluid, typically something like sintered bauxite or a ceramic material) supports this fracture open so the gas can flow out.

You really do not need to inject fracking fluids along the entire area of the gas field.

While water regulation and treatment protocols are of course terribly important these may not be sufficient to prevent accidental spills due to either Murphy’s law or indeed bad practice. Cowboy workmanship is not unheard of in Ireland. Nor has enforcement of regulation.

BX19, I assume you are not suggesting that because other spills also occur (such as in agri) we should not worry about a fracking-related spill? You may be right about spillage being more likely in agri than in fracking, however the seriousnous of a potential spill must also be a factor when assessing risk. Perhaps a single avarage-sized fracking spill could be more environmentally damaging than 10,000 avarage-sized agri spills? I would be very interested if you had some literature about the realative risks.