Sustainability lessons from shale development in the United States for Mexico and other emerging unconventional oil and gas developers

Castro-Alvarez, Fernando; Marsters, Peter; Baridó, Diego Ponce de León; Kammen, Daniel M.

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.082

Cited by 42 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…Shale resource exploration efforts are underway in several countries, including Mexico (Castro‐Alvarez et al, ), Algeria, Australia, Colombia, South Africa, and India (U.S. Energy Information Administration, ). Their shale deposits are located in water‐stressed, groundwater‐depleted, or arid areas (Figures and ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Water‐Energy Nexus of Hydraulic Fracturing: A Global Hydrologic Analysis for Shale Oil and Gas Extraction

et al. 2018

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Shale deposits are globally abundant and widespread. Extraction of shale oil and shale gas is generally performed through water‐intensive hydraulic fracturing. Despite recent work on its environmental impacts, it remains unclear where and to what extent shale resource extraction could compete with other water needs. Here we consider the global distribution of known shale deposits suitable for oil and gas extraction and develop a water balance model to quantify their impacts on local water availability for other human uses and ecosystem functions. We find that 31–44% of the world's shale deposits are located in areas where water stress would either emerge or be exacerbated as a result of shale oil or gas extraction; 20% of shale deposits are in areas affected by groundwater depletion and 30% in irrigated land. In these regions shale oil and shale gas production would likely compete for local water resources with agriculture, environmental flows, and other water needs. By adopting a hydrologic perspective that considers water availability and demand together, decision makers and local communities can better understand the water and food security implications of shale resource development.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Water‐Energy Nexus of Hydraulic Fracturing: A Global Hydrologic Analysis for Shale Oil and Gas Extraction

et al. 2018

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“…Lessons from [17] on the recent "shale boom" in the US highlighted the need for Mexico to inform mainly Mexican policymakers, but also key stakeholders such as academics, nongovernmental organizations, and the public in general, Journal of Power and Energy Engineering about the main concerns regarding the importance of regulatory enforcement and community engagement to advancing sustainability. The need to incorporate good practices and awareness creation in EIA was identified by [18] as critical for addressing risk issues associated with the oil and gas industry in Myanmar.…”

Section: Some Literature Argues That the Magic To Influence Sustainabmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating the Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Exploitation: Issues of Compliance, Cost of Production, and Community Awareness

Arthur¹

2020

JPEE

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This study assessed the effectiveness of mitigation measures adopted to address the environmental effects of oil and gas industries from the perspective of compliance, cost of production, and community awareness. The research applied a case study through multi-method-qualitative and quantitative approaches. The target population of 547,368 people involved people in Takoradi, Shama and Newtown communities. A sample size of 150 was selected and categorised under 36% for Shama, 30% for Newtown and 34% for Takoradi. A combination of probability (simple random) and non-probability (cluster and convenience) sampling frames were used to access the respondents for the study. Data collection tools were limited to questionnaires and interview sessions. The descriptive statistics, Relative Importance Index (RII) and significance testing using a one-sample t-test module guided the analysis. Interview sessions were compiled into transcripts and later categorized into themes that directly reflected the patterns of the questions on the questionnaire. The conclusion rated major decisions in mitigating oil and gas impacts on the environment as first for conscious effort to package fuel and other chemicals in safe storages, followed by the use of best road systems to reduce the risk of accidents, then application of strict rules and regulations to curb impacts and lastly capacity building for participants in the oil and gas production industry. While significant measures have been adopted to mitigate the effects of oil and gas exploration, there remain challenges with effectiveness as a result of weakness in community involvement efforts, lack of motivation, weak laws and regulations and loss of respect. For effectiveness in reducing the challenges to mitigate the environmental impacts of the oil and gas production activity, policymakers, as well as the practitioners in the oil production industry, are advised to motivate people into buying into their policy to reduce such impacts.

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“…including community impacts and water related issues, are provided in the literature [83][84][85][86][87][88].…”

Section: Regional and Local Context 221 Regional Water-energy Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disclosing water-energy-economics nexus in shale gas development

et al. 2018

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Shale gas has gained importance in the energy landscape in recent decades. However, its development has raised environmental concerns, especially, those associated with water management. Thus, the assessment of water management aspects which inevitably impact the economic aspects, is crucial in evaluating the merits of any project exploiting this energy source. This paper provides a review of the economic and environmental implications of shale gas development around the world. Furthermore, to demonstrate the interplay between the various technical, environmental and economic factors in concrete terms, we report on a specific set of case studies conducted using an integrated decisionsupport tool that has been implemented to model and optimize shale gas development projects. The case study results confirm that the gas breakeven price decreases with expansion in scale of the shale gas development, i.e. increasing the number of well-pads in the system. However, scale also increases the options for water re-use and recycle in drilling and fracturing operations, which can result in lower freshwater withdrawal intensity. Moreover, under water scarcity scenarios, the choice of well-pad designs that are 2 inherently less water intensive was found to be more cost-effective than water re-use or/and recycle strategies at reducing net freshwater demand. Similar trends were observed when the impact of wastewater quality, i.e. total dissolved solids concentration, on the optimal development strategy of shale gas plays was investigated. The results of these case studies reveal that greater efforts are needed at characterizing freshwater availability and wastewater quality for the evaluation of both the economic and environmental aspects of shale gas development.

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Sustainability lessons from shale development in the United States for Mexico and other emerging unconventional oil and gas developers

Cited by 42 publications

References 49 publications

The Water‐Energy Nexus of Hydraulic Fracturing: A Global Hydrologic Analysis for Shale Oil and Gas Extraction

The Water‐Energy Nexus of Hydraulic Fracturing: A Global Hydrologic Analysis for Shale Oil and Gas Extraction

Mitigating the Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Exploitation: Issues of Compliance, Cost of Production, and Community Awareness

Disclosing water-energy-economics nexus in shale gas development

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