The success of shale gas in North America has attracted increased interest in “unconventional” reservoirs. Two critical factors for shale-gas reservoirs are units amenable to hydrologic fracture stimulation and sufficient natural gas content. The effectiveness of hydrologic fracture stimulation is influenced by rock geomechanical properties, which are related to rock mineralogy. The natural gas...

Many assessments of the promise and pitfalls to shale gas development are incomplete. They tend to focus primarily on the benefits for electricity generation and gas producers, and therefore only address in a limited way the impact shale gas has on wider issues such as energy security and stewardship. We expand on the existing literature by considering a broad treatment of the energy security n...

Natural gas has become a leading source of alternative energy with the advent of techniques to economically extract gas reserves from deep shale formations. Here, we present an assessment of private well water quality in aquifers overlying the Barnett Shale formation of North Texas. We evaluated samples from 100 private drinking water wells using analytical chemistry techniques. Analyses reveal...

Handling flow through fractured media is critical for transient pressure and flow analysis in shale gas reservoirs, because gas production from such low-permeability formations relies on fractures, from hydraulic fractures and fracture network to various-scaled natural fractures, to provide flow channels for gas flow into producing wells. This study presents a numerical investigation of pressur...

Shale gas proponents argue this unconventional fossil fuel offers a ―bridge‖ towards a cleaner energy system by offsetting higher-carbon fuels such as coal. The technical feasibility of reconciling shale gas development with climate action remains contested. However, we here argue that governance challenges are both more pressing and more profound. Reconciling shale gas and climate action requi...

About the Cover: Black carbon (BC) containing particles have an important role to play in climate change; directly heating through absorption of radiation, and/or indirectly cooling through the seeding of clouds. New research in this issue, using a mobile laboratory indicates that gasoline powered cars may produce more BC than previously considered. Transmission electron microscopy background i...

One of the primary public concerns with new development of shale and other unconventional gas resources is potential contamination of shallow groundwater with natural gas (largely methane). Natural gas contamination of shallow groundwater can result from leaky gas production wellbores (e.g. Stein et al., 2003; Van Stempvoort et al., 2005). However, there is also concern that hydraulic fracturin...

Estimates of technically recoverable shale gas resources remain highly uncertain, even in regions with a relatively long history of shale gas production. This paper examines the reasons for these uncertainties, focussing in particular on the methods used to derive resource estimates. Such estimates can be based upon the extrapolation of previous production experience in developed areas, or from...

The casing deformation problems are presented over 36 wells (among 112 horizontal wells by 2016) during fracturing processes in Weiyuan-Changning shale gas play in China.1 Subsequent tools could be blocked in the wellbore.2–4 The segments with serious deformation had to be abandoned before completing fracturing operations.5 The casing deformation issues make a great influence on production of s...

Estimates of technically recoverable shale gas resources remain highly uncertain, even in regions with a relatively long history of shale gas production. This paper examines the reasons for these uncertainties, focussing in particular on the methods used to derive resource estimates. Such estimates can be based upon the extrapolation of previous production experience in developed areas, or from...