Fluids

A coalition of nine environmental groups in West Virginia have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to require that operators add tracers to fluids used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) at Marcellus Shale oil and gas wells drilled near the Monongahela National Forest.

A bill that would allow companies to classify as trade secrets chemicals and concentrations used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluids passed the muster of a key committee on Tuesday, and is nearing final passage in the West Virginia Legislature.

Williams officials said they have concluded that “a failed pressure gauge is the source of the hydrocarbon fluids” the company found last month near its Parachute Gas Plant. “The leak was stopped on Jan. 3, 2013 at 12:33 a.m. The gauge was part of valve set on a four-inch NGL pipeline belonging to Williams Partners.”

The San Francisco-based Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in a California Superior Court Thursday, seeking to get the state to enforce existing laws governing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) when it is used in oil and natural gas production. The nonprofit conservation organization alleged that the state is shirking its responsibility.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Friday announced an expansion of best management practices (BMP) for the fluids minerals industry to protect wildlife near oil, natural gas and geothermal facilities on federal land.

Consol Energy Inc. said Monday that although it reported lower natural gas production for 3Q2012 compared to one year ago, the figure was misleading because of reporting adjustments and its decision in September to idle a southern Virginia coal mine that produced associated gas.

Beginning July 1 producers that use hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on wells in Oklahoma will be required to disclose the contents of the frack fluids they use, save for those contents that are deemed to be trade secrets. The regulations adopted earlier this year by state lawmakers and enacted by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) are similar to those in other states.

Pennsylvania House Speaker Sam Smith (R-Punxsutawney) accused opponents of shale gas drilling of spreading misinformation about Act 13, calling their claims that the law’s language on chemical disclosure would prevent doctors from treating their patients “outrageous.”

A well used to dispose of fracking-related fluids in the northeastern corner of Ohio is believed to have been responsible for about a dozen minor earthquakes in the town of Youngstown over the past year, with the latest one coming on New Year’s Eve, according to state regulators.