Fracking regulations updated after well blowout
CALGARY – A bulletin issued to drillers in the wake of a well blowout near Innisfail last January has been incorporated in a draft directive released Thursday by the Alberta energy industry regulator.
The directive is designed to update Energy Resources Conservation Board regulations covering hydraulic fracturing, said spokeswoman Cara Tobin. The new directive would replace an existing one related to shallow hydraulic fracturing operations, mostly connected to coal-bed methane operations, she added.
The new regulations are designed to clarify rules surrounding communication from a “fracked” well to other wells — the apparent cause of the Innisfail incident in which pressure being applied by a fracking crew on a Midway Energy well led to the eruption from a producing well a kilometre away operated by Wildstream Exploration.
The incident is still under investigation and a report is expected early in 2013 which will explain what happened and what enforcement, is any, is recommended, Tobin said.
The directive is also designed to ensure well integrity and clarify rules for wells completed in shallow zones, defined as less than 100 metres below the base of groundwater protection.
It provides for increased setbacks from water wells.
It gives pumping volume restrictions and exemptions to setback distances for nitrogen fracturing in coal bed methane formations and imposes new requirements to notify the ERCB when fracking is planned and in the event that there is an unintended leak into an offset well or non-saline aquifer.
David Pryce, a vice-president with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the regulations don’t contradict fracking guidelines it issued in January that encourage producers across Canada to use additives with the least environmental risks, protect groundwater, and disclose fracking fluid additives.
“Folks will say our guidelines are voluntary, and indeed they are, but our intent is for them to be complementary to a sound regulatory environment,” he said. “I think the two pieces work well together.”
Feedback on the directive will be accepted until Jan. 18, the ERCB said. More information is available at www.ercb.ca.