Canadian natural-gas producers to disclose fracking fluids

The Douglas Channel, the proposed termination point for an oil pipeline in the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project at Kitamaat, British Columbia, Canada. Rio Tinto Alcans smelter is at left and the town of Kitamaat at upper right. The fear of oil spills is especially acute in this pristine corner of northwest British Columbia, with its snowcapped mountains and deep ocean inlets. People here still remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989, and oil is still leaking from the Queen of the North, a ferry that sank off nearby Hartley Bay six years ago. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

Canadian natural-gas producers have voluntarily adopted standards to disclose fluids used in hydraulic fracturing amid investigations into the risks posed by the drilling technique in Canada and the U.S.

In addition to listing the chemical ingredients used in each well, producers will test water sources and evaluate the handling of fluids used in fracturing, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said on its website today.

The industry is under increasing regulatory scrutiny in both Canada and the U.S. amid concern that chemicals used in the process may contaminate drinking water. Fracturing, in which millions of gallons of chemically treated water and sand are forced underground to break rock and let trapped vapor flow, has been halted by some states and Quebec, where the government is studying the technique’s impact on fresh water.

“We don’t have fracturing figured out yet,” Matt Horne, acting director of climate change at the Pembina Institute in Vancouver, said in an interview today. “One of the key challenges is managing fracturing on a cumulative basis and that is something that governments and regulatory bodies will have to address.”

Almost 200,000 wells have been fractured during the past 60 years in western Canada, the association said. In the U.S., about one-third of gas is produced from fracturing, up from 14 percent in 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

EPA Report

A Dec. 8 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report linked fracking to groundwater contamination for the first time. The draft report on groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) northeast of Salt Lake City, followed complaints from residents about the smell and taste of their water.

Samples taken by the EPA from an aquifer revealed “compounds likely associated with gas-production practices, including hydraulic fracturing,” according to the draft report.

Doug Hock, a spokesman for Encana Corp., said the report dealt with probabilities, “not a definitive conclusion,” after the draft report was released. The Calgary-based company owns 123 wells in Pavillion.

Quebec’s environmental assessment bureau in February recommended halting gas exploration and production in shale fields until further studies have been conducted, a process that will require 18 months to two years.