Testing Society Proposes Standards for Safe Fracking
Posted by Bob Taylor Engineering
Pax Leader
More than 100 industry professionals attended The American Society for Testing and Materials Subcommittee Hydraulic Fracturing in Jacksonville, Fla. Jan. 29 to chart a safe and efficient course for hydraulic fracturing.
A U.S. Geological Survey report identified areas in Southern Maryland that could yield natural gas through hydraulic fracturing, a controversial mining process commonly known as “fracking.”
“I believe [the subcommittee] will have a major impact on hydraulic fracturing activities,” said the ASTM subcommittee chair John T. Germaine, Ph.D., senior research associate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The potential list of standards is very long and it is now a matter of the interest and energy of the volunteer members to determine the long-term impact.”
Germaine says the following is a partial list of areas in which ASTM hydraulic fracturing standards could be developed:
- Establishing background contamination levels
- Characterizing materials injected into the wellbore to create a fracture or support the flow path
- Evaluating the chemistry of waste materials
- Sealing the wellbore for abandonment
- Quantifying grout behavior
- Monitoring air and groundwater during operations
During the meeting, discussion focused on determining categories within which consensus standards could be developed that will guide best practices within the oil and gas industry while also addressing environmental concerns regarding water, land and air resources. Task groups have been formed in the following areas:
- Site Investigations
- Permitting
- Site Infrastructure and Construction
- Drilling/Fracking/Stimulation
- Drilling and Completion Fluid Characterization
- Drilling and Completion Fluid Waste Management
- Production Activities
- Site Monitoring
- Well Abandonment
- Reporting
- Cementing/Grouting
- Terminology
Each task group will refine their scope statements; identify existing standards in their area; identify possible liaisons with other ASTM committees, as well as outside organizations; and begin to write first drafts for new standards. Progress in these areas will be reported at the next subcommittee meeting June 9-12 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Bob Taylor Engineering is headquartered in Lexington Park, Maryland and employs more than two-dozen field, testing and administrative professionals. In addition to field investigations, Bob Taylor Engineering operates a federally certified laboratory to allow complete in-house testing and assessments for clients.
