Challenges Related to Proper Development of a Shale Resource

Composite Energy is developing its understanding of the shale resources within its licence areas. The initial challenges relating to the exploration and development of the resource are touched upon below. As our understanding of the challenges increases this will be developed further.

Water treatment and discharge: Water will be produced from a wellbore. Water treatment and abstraction are regulated by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Environment Agency (EA) under various permits governing the quality of the water and volume licensed for discharge. Any water treatment and discharge scheme is required to be consented both by the Local Planning Authority and by SEPA or the EA.
Drill Cuttings: Whilst drilling the wellbore, cuttings of rock formation are produced from the well. These are minimal but are classed as inert waste and can be removed from the drill site to landfill under licence with SEPA or the EA.
Ground Water: The risk of interfering with ground water should always be mitigated by good industry practice in wellbore design, casing and cementing. Wellbore engineering is assessed by the DECC (Department of Energy & Climate Change) and the HSE prior to drilling. SEPA and EA manage the drilling of wellbores under the abstraction licencing system and address geological issues.
Traffic: The site construction and well testing and stimulation is the busiest stage of the development This is governed by the Planning Authority in consultation with the local highways department, to ensure safe and orderly movement to and from the site through each stage of the development.
Water for stimulation: Water is required for a fracture stimulated well. The abstraction of water from local sources for use in this process is regulated by Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Environment Agency (EA) under various permits.
Noise: The drilling of a well requires to be undertaken on a 24hr basis for circa 60 days. The process is governed by the local authority planning process. Noise surveys for the rig site set up should be considered on sites where receptors fall within noise contours of the survey, with appropriate mitigating measures being employed to overcome acoustic intrusion. Modern rig and stimulation equipment and designed with noise reduction as one of their key design features.
Visual: Sites should be located by operators in areas capable of minimising visual intrusion where possible. Visual impact at the drilling stage can be addressed by the use of equipment with a small footprint both in terms of surface area and height. Lighting used at night during drilling can be intrusive and mitigating measures should be taken to ensure that night time operations are specifically addressed. These issues are addressed by the local authority planning process.
Flaring and Venting: At times during a test and also in the wider success case development, it can be necessary to either vent or flare gas. These operations can only be carried out under agreement with the DECC and the HSE and provision should be made in a planning permission application to address these operations.
Boundary Treatments: Boundary treatments for sites should be considered distinctly in each phase. The drilling phase requires men to move freely amongst equipment and to have sufficient space to work safely. The site should also prevent those from outside entering without appropriate control. In the production phase the equipment should be protected in a manner akin to Transco Substations. Currently this is addressed by the planning authority.
Well Spacing/Density: The number of wells in an area has to be managed. Current understanding of the dynamics of shale suggests that one well site every 1 to 1.5 square kilometre should be sufficient to ensure efficient production of the resource. This is subject to test and increased understanding of the resource.