Authors
Sarbjit Nahal, Matthew Yates, Valery Lucas-Leclin, Julie Dollé and John King
The shale gas boom has largely been driven on advances in horizontal drilling and the practice of “fracking”, pumping a mixture of water chemicals and proppants into wells to unlock the gas. Fracking has raised HSE concerns over freshwater use, wastewater treatment, GHG emissions, biodiversity and clean-up issues. Regulators are following stakeholders and moving towards greater scrutiny of potential HSE risks. It is too early to estimate the potential cost burden of regulation but additional costs will arise, which could be margin make-or-break for higher-cost shale fields and may result in tightened shale gas supply.