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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Shale gas seen as possible new resource here

By: Mary Agnes Welch

Posted: 01/21/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

PROVINCIAL government geologists have confirmed Manitoba has shale gas worth exploring, the kind of gas that's caused a continent-wide controversy over fracking.

But it might be a decade before Manitoba's gas catches the interest of energy companies looking for their next drilling targets.

What is fracking?

Shale gas is a type of natural gas trapped in sedimentary rock. In the last 20 years, there's been a boom in the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract that gas. A mixture of water, chemicals and sand is injected underground at high pressure to prop open fissures that then allow the gas to escape into a well.

Critics say fracking poses risks to groundwater, which can become contaminated by the chemicals or the gases released from the shale. The process uses huge amounts of fresh water and could release large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

But the industry says only a very few of the hundreds of thousands of wells have posed problems. If fracking is done right, it can be clean and safe, and natural gas is seen by some as a good compromise energy source while low-emission technology catches up with demand.

In Manitoba, which imports all its natural gas, a homegrown source could prove valuable, especially in a cold province where there are roughly 230,000 gas-powered furnaces.

"We do have gas in our shale," said Michelle Nicolas, a geologist with the province's Energy and Mining Department. "Whether it's economical at this point, we don't know. I suspect the technology isn't there quite yet."

Nicolas and fellow geologist Jim Baburak are four years into a study of the province's shale-gas potential. The study was recently renewed until 2014 and bolstered by the addition of a graduate student.

The geologists have spent several years taking samples and found there are two late Cretaceous formations worth further exploration in the southwestern corner of the province. The target region runs from the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border to Treherne, including the Manitoba Escarpment, Swan Valley, the Porcupine Hills and around Riding Mountain.

There's already a burgeoning oil industry in the region.

The province's geologists began their investigation after natural gas companies inquired about looking for new shale-gas prospects. There is no private exploratory drilling going on yet in Manitoba.

Peter Howard, president of the Canadian Energy Research Institute, said Manitoba's gas might soon be appealing for energy developers, though.

Manitoba's wells would be easy to access and closer to pipelines and markets than, for example, the already booming gas resource in remote northeastern British Columbia.

Howard guessed energy companies will start showing an interest in Manitoba's gas within 10 years.

The research institute is funded in part by the petroleum industry as well as the federal and Alberta governments.

Shale gas, and the relatively new hydraulic fracturing technique used to extract it, have come under increased scrutiny following a series of small earthquakes in Ohio over Christmas. Experts believe the practice of disposing of the fracking waste water by injecting it back underground contributed to the quakes.

There are significant shale gas operations in Saskatchewan and even more in Alberta.

If the shale formation in the Prairies is a bowl, Nicolas says Manitoba is on the lip of the basin. "Nobody knows if we have what it takes yet," she said. "We're still looking at that."

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 21, 2012 A3

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