Cuadrilla Resources, England Fracking Company, Agrees Operations Probably Triggered Tremors

LONDON -- The only company in Britain using hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas from shale rock said Wednesday that the controversial technique probably did trigger earth tremors in April and May.

But a report commissioned by Cuadrilla Resources, which is drilling for gas in the area outside the northwestern English coastal resort town of Blackpool, cautioned that the tremors, measuring 1.9 and 2.8 on the Richter scale – were due to an unusual combination of geology and operations and were unlikely to happen again.

Cuadrilla is the only company currently extracting shale gas using hydraulic fracturing – a controversial technique by which a mix of water, sand and chemicals are pumped deep inside underground rock formations to free the gas.

Fracturing operations were suspended on May 27 following the detection of a tremor centered just outside Blackpool.

The company said operations would remain suspended while the company and government officials study the report.

The use of fracturing, colloquially known as "fracking," has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly in the United States, and residents and environmental activists have raised concerns about the potential impact on water quality.

Critics say fracking could poison water supplies, while the natural gas industry says it's been used safely for decades.

Nick Molho, of environmental charity WWF, said that Wednesday's findings were likely to add to the "very real concerns" people had about fracking.

But the report estimated that in the "unlikely scenario," that fracking kicked off another tremor, its maximum magnitude would be about 3 – meaning it would probably barely be felt if at all.

Meanwhile campaigners who oppose the fracking swooped in on one of the company's rigs in a protest against the industry.

In a statement, Cuadrilla said it believed that there were "five protesters on site, four of whom are attached to the machinery."

__

Online:

Comments

[sachazg]

12:28 AM on 11/06/2011

OMG, don't tell me the real truth will come out! I live in Colorado near a lot the fracking & we have LOTS of problems.... but no one will take responsibility. In the end no one cares about peoples health, they only care about the bottom line.

[1differentdrummer]

06:23 AM on 11/05/2011

probably the only time it's ever happened, right? Wrong, very wrong.

[paddlerchick]

08:19 AM on 11/04/2011

When something goes wrong they always claim it was a "perfect storm" not likely to happen again. Isn't this the point? They just don't know.

[dansup]

07:50 PM on 11/03/2011

well this should be interesting with all the drilling in the Bakken Formation in ND/Montana - get too close to the Yellowstone Caldera and kabluie!

[CanadaStan]

08:53 PM on 11/03/2011

Ever heard of a map?

[dansup]

11:08 PM on 11/03/2011

yes, and I have been to both areas as well. I assume your comment means you don't think there could be any connection between the two due to distance, but I'm not so sure about that, happy that you are tho

[sglahn817]

02:17 PM on 11/03/2011

Has anybody heard of production and surface casing and the cement that holds them in place? A well is not just a hole in the ground.

[sglahn817]

02:14 PM on 11/03/2011

It didn't take 15 seconds to elapse between his complaint and his agenda.

[patman77]

06:14 PM on 11/04/2011

right. I saw through you pretty quick also.

[mjc]

01:47 PM on 11/03/2011

The fracking advocates...those hoping to make big bucks drilling through shale...tend to deny any harm from the process and yet even if the tremors were mild enough sites could probably produce bigger tremors. And the difference in the shale deposits just aren't addressed by these drillers. Pennsylvania has shale four times the depth of shale in and around southern upstate New York and most of the shale in New York is concentrated around the lakes, Finger Lakes in particular but also in the Hudson Valley. Helps produce great wine but could ruin a perfectly good industry. Drilling shale at the depth of 200+ feet in the mountains of Pennsylvania could produce tremors affecting the communities in and around Scranton . That is not the worst of it, however. The use of chemicals in water to get to the gas would be basically lost into the soil and the water tables, perhaps in the lakes in New York or in the mountains in Pennsylvania. That water is polluted, probably not drinkable and probably not great for growing anything. Even if humans didn't ingest it our wildlife would and probably the trees as well. Fracking is NOT a way to increase our energy products but the oil and gas companies don't want to go for the processes that would without harming our environment.

[den1953]

11:21 AM on 11/03/2011

Whats better energy companies making millions or your home imploding from a earthquake, it's a no brainer for the Corporations let the people live in caves!

[D-Driller]

08:04 AM on 11/03/2011

I've often wondered what laypeople think happens when you induce 1/8" or less fractures in rock downhole, and then they collapse back to their original state. Similarly, I wonder why people do not lay down on railroad tracks when tremors you can actually feel, like when a freight train rumbles by from a quarter of a mile away, and obviously causes houses to shake, plaster to crack, etc. come by, but rush to a drilling location to entwine themselves in the machinery when tremors they can not feel are taking place?

[CanadaStan]

08:54 PM on 11/03/2011

Facts are not important here....

[D-Driller]

04:12 AM on 11/04/2011

Yeah, I get that impression from talking with some of the folks on this site...

[CanadaStan]

12:27 AM on 11/03/2011

Want a renewable that actually works?
Build hydro dams.

[rjhuntington]

07:47 AM on 11/03/2011

Hydro dams are not good for the environment or any of the river life such as migrating fish that would otherwise naturally thrive.

[CanadaStan]

12:03 PM on 11/03/2011

Gimme a F****** break.
They aren't damming the whole river, just one section of it, there is lots of river left for fish and fowl.

[oakhilliron]

08:49 PM on 11/02/2011

Inuendo, hype, suggestions. The 'green' gods will use anything they can to scare people about ANY asset we remove from the earth. Thank God there are still people who have the common sense to understand what coincidence and nature can do. We have been removing gas and oil from the earth for a century (including fracking) without doing any damage to her. We have enough liquid fuel under the United States to last this country well over one hundred years. That is one hundred years to find true renewable energy that will not destroy our landscape or kill our birds with their blades or bankrupt our country with their subsidies.

[HextallDrums]

11:12 PM on 11/02/2011

I'll bet you we run out of oil in the next 100 years. We just reached 7 billion people on the planet. Given the current trend in population growth and the growing number of automobiles being used in existing and developing nations, we will run out. You don't wait until it's too late to start investing in clean, renewable energy. You start now, and wean the world off of oil and gas.

[CanadaStan]

12:25 AM on 11/03/2011

I betcha we don't.
It might get very expensive....

[crydespite]

07:06 AM on 11/03/2011

I thought the story said that the company itself had stated that it probably caused the tremors? Not green gods, hippies, whatever?

[CanadaStan]

07:53 PM on 11/02/2011

Controversial?
Been used for 60 years or more...

[oakhilliron]

08:50 PM on 11/02/2011

Absolutely and without a problem.

[HappyBrit]

04:21 AM on 11/03/2011

None so blind as those who will not see.

[rjhuntington]

07:35 AM on 11/03/2011

Oakhilliron and CanadaStand sound like they must be fracking industry representatives. Please disclose your vested interest in fracking.

[Nukualofa]

09:57 AM on 11/05/2011

Wrong.

[Hooagy]

07:07 PM on 11/02/2011

eric olsen is exxon/mobile con man who would sell the future of his kids safety to the highest bidder.

[D-Driller]

08:07 AM on 11/03/2011

Exxon Mobil. Mobile is what you won't be if they shut off the oil taps this morning.

[ciskokid]

05:24 PM on 11/02/2011

Folks who drill into the ground for profit, their own, that is, are caught lying every time their lips move.

[CanadaStan]

12:26 AM on 11/03/2011

Yeah ok Moonbeam....

[rjhuntington]

07:36 AM on 11/03/2011

Ciskokid accuses the energy industry of lying, which it does routinely, and you smear him personally. You must be an industry shill.

[Hooagy]

04:48 PM on 11/02/2011

eric olsen !