Fracking fluid chemicals list released
ConocoPhillips provides list of additives to be used in two horizontal hydraulic fracturing wells this winter to the Sahtu Land and Water Board
Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Saturday, November 30, 2013
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp. released a list of chemicals last week it proposes to use in horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations in two wells in the Sahtu this winter.
The area around Parsons Lake has an estimated 2.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas beneath it, enough to heat all the houses in Canada for two years, according to data assembled by the Mackenzie Gas Project. ConocoPhillips controls the lease for the site, located about 55 kilometres southwest of Tuktoyaktuk. - photo courtesy of ConocoPhillips
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The corporation submitted its 208-page Chemical Management Plan, completed in October, to the Sahtu Land and Water Board on Nov. 22 in fulfilment of its water license application.
On Oct. 29, the National Energy Board approved the corporation's application to conduct exploratory fracking on its properties in the Canol shale play in the Central Mackenzie region throughout the next five years. The Sahtu Land and Water Board passed the plan in June.
In the document, the company outlines plans to store flowback fracking fluid in insulated single-walled oil tanks above a bermed liner to assist with containment in case of leaks during operations.
Base fluid, which is expected to be water, and sand will make up most of the volume of the fracturing fluid, to which chemicals are added. The chemicals can be found in common household products, the report states, though in this case they will be present in industrial concentrations and volumes.
The list of additives includes 5,000 litres of hydrochloric acid at a 15 per cent concentration, which is corrosive, crystalline silica, which is carcinogenic, and other hazardous materials, including several other carcinogens, that the report says need to be kept away from workers, wildlife and waterways.
The composition of the fracturing fluids may change based on operational conditions, the report states, adding the changes will be revealed to the Sahtu Land and Water Board, according to a letter submitted to the board by Cyril Jenkins, ConocoPhillips team lead for regulatory, environment and stakeholder engagement.
"The Chemical Risk Management Plan provides the framework to ensure that occupational health, safety and environmental management are met," he states.
Potential risks outlined in the report include fuel, fluid or chemical leaks or spills on the surface; failure of surface well casing; and the migration of fracturing fluid from the subsurface, along with proposed prevention and response measures to anticipate or address such potential accidents.
The company is scheduled to begin drilling two wells this month, according to statements made early last month by Rob Evans, director of communications for ConocoPhillips.
The corporation was required to submit the management plan within 60 days prior to the commencement of its operations.
Within 30 days of the completion of fracking operations, the corporation will be required to submit a list of additives and total water volumes used in each well.
The Sahtu Land and Water Board introduced filing requirements for companies fracking in the NWT, which call for companies to disclose the chemicals they plan to use in fracking to the National Energy Board either before or soon after they drill.
ConocoPhillips' other properties in the NWT include Amauligak, which was discovered approximately 75 kilometres northwest of Tuktoyaktuk under about 30 metres of water in the Beaufort Sea in 1984, and is still the largest oil and gas discovery in the Mackenzie Delta or Beaufort Sea areas, and Parsons Lake, located in 1972 approximately 75 kilometres north of Inuvik, which represents the second largest discovery in the Mackenzie Delta.
