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This is a continuation of my previous article on the challenges facing the Canadian tar sands, in which we looked at the cost and financing issues. Water Water is another major problem. Tar sands plants typically use two to four barrels of water to extract a barrel of oil. Currently, the water consumption is enough to sustain a city of two million people every year.
Tar Sands: The Oil Junkie's Last Fix, Part 2
Grâce à la plateforme collaborative J’aime l’info , j’ai réalisé ce reportage sur l’exploitation du gaz de schiste aux Etats-Unis, publié dans Politis . Au nord de la Pennsylvanie, sur la gigantesque formation schisteuse du Marcellus Shale , les pipelines utilisés pour convoyer le gaz arraché du sous-sol griffent les collines verdoyantes. Les innombrables puits défigurent le territoire et polluent l’eau, l’air et la terre des habitants. Certains clichés, rarissimes dans le monde très secret de l’industrie gazière, montrent ici l’action au cœur, sur un chantier en plein forage.
Diaporama : comment le gaz de schiste défigure les Etats-Unis | Rue89 Planète
Frequently asked questions
What is fracking? Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a method utilized by oil and gas companies to increase production of oil or gas from a well that would otherwise exhibit a low flow rate usually due to the geologic rock formation being too dense to allow for the economic recovery of hydrocarbons. These low permeability formations generally include tight sands, shales and coal bed methane deposits.
Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers - NYTimes.com
The gas has always been there, of course, trapped deep underground in countless tiny bubbles, like frozen spills of seltzer water between thin layers of shale rock. But drilling companies have only in recent years developed techniques to unlock the enormous reserves, thought to be enough to supply the country with gas for heating buildings, generating electricity and powering vehicles for up to a hundred years. So energy companies are clamoring to drill. And they are getting rare support from their usual sparring partners. Environmentalists say using natural gas will help slow because it burns more cleanly than coal and .La France a assuré ce vendredi à la Pologne qu'elle ne ferait pas obstacle au niveau européen à l'exploitation de gaz de schiste , même si elle envisage de l'interdire chez elle si les techniques d'extraction sont jugées néfastes pour l'environnement. «La France restera neutre quant au développement de cette technologie en Pologne», a déclaré ce vendredi le Premier ministre polonais, Donald Tusk, à sa sortie de l'Elysée. >> La carte des gaz de schiste en France, c'est par ici De source diplomatique française, on indique que le chef de l'Etat a fait valoir que le moratoire projeté par son gouvernement concernait le territoire français et qu'il n'était «pas question de créer des difficultés à la Pologne sur ce sujet».
Gaz de schiste: La France n'empêchera pas son exploitation en Pologne - 20minutes.fr
Click HERE to view graphic (69k jpg) Earthquake experts from the British Geological Survey said that the 1.5 magnitude quake last week was similar to a 2.3 earthquake in April in the same area and that both may be linked to the experimental fracking for shale gas at Preese Hall on the Fylde coast. Bans on commercial fracking are already in place in France as well as in New York and Pennsylvania states, where people living close to fracking sites have been filmed setting fire to tap water contaminated with methane gas.
Small earthquake in Blackpool, major shock for UK's energy policy - Science, News - The Independent
"Avec l’abandon du nucléaire, de nombreux pays d’Europe vont devoir miser sur des sources d’énergie irrégulières comme le vent et le soleil. Les bassins d’accumulation hydraulique des Alpes suisses… "Le chimiste Marcelo dos Santos, de Araraquara dans l’Etat de São Paulo, a mis au point, après deux ans de recherches, une composition chimique capable de transformer des déchets organiques en…
La Lituanie veut se lancer dans l'extraction du gaz de schiste - Objectif Terre
Alors qu'enfle la polémique sur les dangers liés à cette ressource énergétique, le premier ministre polonais, Donald Tusk , a déclaré mardi 29 mars que son pays était "déterminé" à explorer et à exploiter son gaz de schiste . "Nous sommes déterminés à ce que les recherches et l'exploitation du gaz de schiste deviennent un fait" , a indiqué le chef du gouvernement lors d'une conférence à Varsovie. Selon lui, la perspective de l'exploitation du gaz de schiste "s'inscrit dans la stratégie de la sécurité énergétique de l'ensemble de l' Europe , donc de la Pologne " . Le chef du gouvernement a insisté cependant sur le fait que l'exploitation des gisements du gaz de schiste doit se faire obligatoirement en respectant l'environnement. En France , devant la fronde des associations et élus locaux, le gouvernement a suspendu toutes les opérations de prospection de gaz et huile de schiste, et sommé les industriels de "prouver" qu'ils peuvent forer "autrement qu'à l'américaine" .
La Pologne veut exploiter son gaz de schiste - LeMonde.fr
New Brunswick’s biggest corporate players in the shale gas industry are arguing they can operate in the province without damaging the environment. Senior representatives from SWN Resources Canada, Corridor Resources and Contact Exploration wrote in separate opinion articles for CBC News that they believe the province could prosper if the shale gas industry moves forward. But each company also continued to pledge to safeguard the environment. The industry and the provincial government have been confronted in recent months by mounting opposition to the shale gas industry and, specifically, to the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing or hydro-fracking.
Shale gas executives vow environmental sustainability - New Brunswick - CBC News
Canada
China May Start Shale-Gas Production by 2015 to Meet Cleaner Fuel Demand - Bloomberg
China , the world’s biggest polluter, may start producing shale gas within five years to meet rising demand for cleaner-burning fuels. Production of gas in shale rock may begin before the end of 2015, Che Changbo, deputy director of the Ministry of Land and Resources’s oil and gas strategy center, said in an interview after a conference in Beijing. The country has drilled more than 10 wells and signed several cooperation agreements with foreign companies to develop the resource, according to Che. China wants to triple the use of natural gas to about 10 percent of its energy consumption by 2020 as it cuts reliance on more polluting coal. China has brought in foreign partners including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Chevron Corp.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Karoo, a vast arid wilderness, may contain gas reserves that could solve the country's energy problems -- but only through an extraction process called fracking that has greens seeing red. The sprawling and ecologically sensitive region, home to rare species such as the mountain zebra and riverine rabbit, may hold vast deposits of natural gas in shale rock deep underground. Once unobtainable, such reserves can now be exploited with new techniques and could serve as a badly needed energy source for Africa's largest economy, which is heavily reliant on coal. Petrochemicals group Sasol, Anglo American and Falcon Oil and Gas are among those eyeing shale gas in the region, although oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is leading the pack with exploration rights to 90,000 sq km (34,750 sq mile).