When fracking wells are put in and are in the area of abandoned wells, that increases the possibility of methane leaks.
...http://www.climatecentral.org/news/study-targets-methane-leaks-between-wells-19582Excerpt: Montague studied Marcellus shale wells in New York, calculating the probability that tiny rock fractures created by the hydraulic fracturing process would eventually intersect the underground borehole of an abandoned gas well or cracks connected to it.
Fracking is the high-pressure underground injection of millions of gallons of water, chemicals and sand, cracking rocks containing hydrocarbons to release crude oil and natural gas into a well. High volume hydraulic fracturing — fracking using more than 300,000 gallons of water — was banned in New York State in June because of its possible threats to public health, the environment and the climate.
“When they frack, they drill a hole vertically down and they induce it to go horizontally for a period of some distance. Water pressure induces fractures in the rock, and those fractures then provide potential conduits for both the fracking fluid and any methane that might be available in the rock that might flow along those fractures,” study co-author George Pinder, a University of Vermont professor of engineering and mathematics, said.
“There’s a certain probability that if you put a fracking well in any particular location, that in the process of doing the fracking operation you’re going to create conduits from the fracking activity to pre-existing abandoned wells,” he said.
In their published results, Pinder and Montague calculated that the probability of that happening in New York is between zero and 3.45 percent. But Pinder said the study may underestimate the probability that a fracked well could intersect an older well.
excerpt: Montague studied Marcellus shale wells in New York, calculating the probability that tiny rock fractures created by the hydraulic fracturing process would eventually intersect the underground borehole of an abandoned gas well or cracks connected to it.
Fracking is the high-pressure underground injection of millions of gallons of water, chemicals and sand, cracking rocks containing hydrocarbons to release crude oil and natural gas into a well. High volume hydraulic fracturing — fracking using more than 300,000 gallons of water — was banned in New York State in June because of its possible threats to public health, the environment and the climate.
“When they frack, they drill a hole vertically down and they induce it to go horizontally for a period of some distance. Water pressure induces fractures in the rock, and those fractures then provide potential conduits for both the fracking fluid and any methane that might be available in the rock that might flow along those fractures,” study co-author George Pinder, a University of Vermont professor of engineering and mathematics, said.
“There’s a certain probability that if you put a fracking well in any particular location, that in the process of doing the fracking operation you’re going to create conduits from the fracking activity to pre-existing abandoned wells,” he said.
In their published results, Pinder and Montague calculated that the probability of that happening in New York is between zero and 3.45 percent. But Pinder said the study may underestimate the probability that a fracked well could intersect an older well.
