Canadian Questerre Energy Says Fracking Causes Tiny Earthquakes
It seems that every month or two someone resurrects a very dead issue: fracking causes earthquakes. MDN has covered the issue extensively over time (just do a quick MDN search on the word earthquake). In a nutshell, the only known instance when the process of fracking a shale gas well has caused an earthquake detectable on the surface was in England, and it was a unique situation where the drilling was shallow and near a geologic fault (see this MDN story).
Canadian energy company Questerre Energy Corporation is working to develop Utica Shale acreage in the St. Lawrence Lowlands area of Quebec province. Must be they’re getting push-back from environmentalists and investors because they’ve just issued what they call a “fact sheet” on the topic of fracking and earthquakes. According to Questerre, fracking does cause earthquakes—but they’re teeny tiny and not detectable on the surface.
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There’s a new “alpha dog” of Utica Shale wells in Ohio that’s upstaging Chesapeake Energy’s Buell well. The Gulfport Energy Wagner 1-28H well in Harrison County is producing an enormous amount of natural gas—record-breaking in fact.
An energy industry consultant and investment analyst writes an interesting article on Seeking Alpha about Exxon Mobil’s commitment to dry shale shale (“methane only”). Richard Zeits characterizes Exxon’s shift away from dry to wet gas (oil and natural gas liquids) as “radical,” citing Exxon’s onshore rig count decline from 71 to 50 rigs (a 30% drop) since the beginning of this year as evidence of the change. He estimates they use less than 10 of the remaining 50 rigs for drilling in dry gas areas.
Now that most of the families in and around Dimock, PA who previously sued Cabot Oil & Gas claiming their water had been contaminated by nearby drilling have settled with the company (