Future of Fracking

The future of fracking has been in doubt recently due to the drop in oil prices, if this continues or even remains at this low price the shale gas industry will likely go into a state of collapse. The stability, and therefore future, of the shale gas industry is different for each country depending on economy, accessibility to gas reserves and import/export opportunities. The industry is constantly advancing however, more recently with horizontal drilling and high volume fracking to reach gas previously inaccessible either due to protected land or geology characteristics.

In the USA the process of hydraulic fracturing emits 40% of their total methane (EPA, 2012) but new fracking regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the USA in 2012 are set to dramatically reduce the countries greenhouse gas emissions. Since these regulations were put in place the industries methane emissions have fallen by 13%. Technologies are being advanced to capture more and more of the greenhouse gases emitted by fracking, particularly methane and volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), this is known as ‘green completion.’

Increased knowledge of the severe impacts of oil and coal have pushed many people into the arms of fracking but there are still climate, water and health impacts involved in shale gas meaning it is likely (or hopefully) going to only exist as a temporary solution. The fact that not all of the problems associated with fracking are yet known, particularly in the UK, means that the future of the industry remains unclear. A lot of the industry’s future depends heavily on demand and supply, can the low price of gas persist? If it doesn’t due to the high cost of the fracking process  and prices begin to rise it is likely that people will finally turn their attention to renewables in hope of cheaper energy. So maybe fracking is just the final step in getting us to a carbon-free, renewable society.

Finally, one of the main questions influencing the fracking industries future is whether it can it be trusted despite a track record of environmental disasters. Since the release of Gasland (see previous blog) it has been no secret that the process of fracking can have very serious environmental and health impacts surrounding the site as well as global climate impacts. This has caused massive public opposition towards the industry meaning any advancement needs to deal with fixing these problems prior to anything else if it going to be supported.