For the past several years, the rapid growth of oil and natural gas production from shale and other unconventional sources has prompted vocal and often sensationalized concerns regarding the potential for migration of gas from hydraulic fracturing operations into sources of drinking water. Studies issued this week indicate that the presence of gas in drinking water resulted from faults in well casing or completion, not from the fractures. However, researchers pose for further study the question of whether unconventional wells are more prone to well construction flaws than their conventional counterparts.

The Studies -

The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) issued its report on the fracturing of six Marcellus Shale wells.1 The researchers monitored pressures, conducted isotopic analyses of produced gas, and utilized tracers to detect gas migration. The results include...