Groundwater Protection: Priority Number One

Oil and natural gas producers have stringent requirements for how wells must be completed. The genesis of these requirements is water safety.

Casing is the first line of defense used to protect freshwater aquifers.

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FAQ's

  • The records for wells completed in Alberta are slightly different than for wells completed in British Columbia. Why?

    The records essentially report the same information and the different jurisdictions share a common interest in protecting water and supporting public access to information.  For example, general information regarding location and well ownership information as well as the particulars of the hydraulic fracturing fluids utilized at a well are common. The differences in the reports reflect the variations in data submission requirements, management processes, and retrieval and reporting procedures of the two jurisdictions.  

  • Is the raw data available for fracfocus.ca?

    Yes, the raw data for BC and Alberta are available directly from each regulator's website.

    For BC, the database is available at https://bcogc.ca/online-services. Please navigate to the REPORTS section under Reservoir Engineering to a link called Complete FracFocus Data.

    For Alberta, you can access this information through the AER Product and Services Catalogue as a self-serve item. Specifically, it is found within the ‘Wells’ category, with the product name “Hydraulic Fracturing Water Source and Water Use Data”. As the product name implies, there is detailed information on water used for hydraulic fracturing operations, as well as the source(s) of that water; fluid composition information is found within the ‘Hydraulic Fracturing Water Use Data (Annual)’ self-serve file.

  • What is Hydraulic Fracturing?

     

    Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracing”, is the process of creating small cracks, or fractures, in deeply buried geological formations to allow natural gas to flow into the wellbore.  The natural gas can then flow to the surface under controlled conditions through the wellhead and be collected for processing and distribution.

    During the hydraulic fracturing process, a mixture of water, sand and other chemical additives designed to protect the integrity of the wellbore and enhance production is pumped under high pressure into the formation to create fractures. The fractures are kept open by sand or “proppant”, which provides pathways to allow the natural gas to flow into the wellbore.

     

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National Energy Board to Join Fracfocus.ca

Calgary, Alberta (November 27, 2013) - The National Energy Board (NEB or the Board) will soon request companies regulated under the Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act (COGOA) to publicly disclose information on the fluids used in hydraulic fracturing operations.

Today the NEB signed an agreement with the BC Oil and Gas Commission, and the US-based Ground Water Protection Council and Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission to participate in the Fracfocus.ca website.