Some of the risks and impacts detected in fracking are multiple and in different areas.
1. Risks During Drilling: there are special drilling techniques necessary so that later they can move on to the fracking, this causes the normal drilling risk to add up to the usual risks of a hydrocarbon sounding, the specifics of diverted soundings are joined. These are risks of explosion, gas leaks, sulfuric acid leaks (very toxic in low concentrations), and formation collapses on the pipeline. The last one is much more common in the case of deviated probes such as those made in this case. Recall that an average of 6-8 wells per platform, and between 1.5 and 3.5 platforms per km2, are being drilled, so that although the risk of an accident of this type per well is low, …show more content…
Chemical Risks of Additives: In each drilling, it is necessary to use some 4,000 tons of chemicals, most of them highly polluting. Although the risk of an accident with a chemical spill is low, the large number of operations to be performed makes it a significant risk.
4. Air Pollution: Throughout the drilling and fracturing process, a large number of additives are used, many of which are volatile compounds. The same happens later in the production stage, where it is necessary to condition the extracted gas to be injected into the pipeline. All these compounds pass in a greater or lesser degree to the atmosphere, being able to generate ozone, or BTEX9 among others.
5. Earthquakes: In areas where the development of fracking is more advanced, an increase in seismicity has been observed, coinciding with periods of hydraulic fracturing. It must be taken into account that during the fracking operations the subsoil is pressurized more than 100 times. This overexertion may be enough to cause displacement of underground faults, and therefore earthquakes, as happened in Lancashire in the United Kingdom where the company Cuadrilla Ressources has recognized that its drilling was the cause of two local
1. Risks During Drilling: there are special drilling techniques necessary so that later they can move on to the fracking, this causes the normal drilling risk to add up to the usual risks of a hydrocarbon sounding, the specifics of diverted soundings are joined. These are risks of explosion, gas leaks, sulfuric acid leaks (very toxic in low concentrations), and formation collapses on the pipeline. The last one is much more common in the case of deviated probes such as those made in this case. Recall that an average of 6-8 wells per platform, and between 1.5 and 3.5 platforms per km2, are being drilled, so that although the risk of an accident of this type per well is low, …show more content…
Chemical Risks of Additives: In each drilling, it is necessary to use some 4,000 tons of chemicals, most of them highly polluting. Although the risk of an accident with a chemical spill is low, the large number of operations to be performed makes it a significant risk.
4. Air Pollution: Throughout the drilling and fracturing process, a large number of additives are used, many of which are volatile compounds. The same happens later in the production stage, where it is necessary to condition the extracted gas to be injected into the pipeline. All these compounds pass in a greater or lesser degree to the atmosphere, being able to generate ozone, or BTEX9 among others.
5. Earthquakes: In areas where the development of fracking is more advanced, an increase in seismicity has been observed, coinciding with periods of hydraulic fracturing. It must be taken into account that during the fracking operations the subsoil is pressurized more than 100 times. This overexertion may be enough to cause displacement of underground faults, and therefore earthquakes, as happened in Lancashire in the United Kingdom where the company Cuadrilla Ressources has recognized that its drilling was the cause of two local