FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For the next 30 years, the Fayetteville Shale Play, an unconventional natural gas formation across central Arkansas, will contribute to the nation’s energy supply and boost the state’s economy. However, as with any subsurface resource extraction, significant development of surface infrastructure is required, which has the potential to cause localized environmental disturbances.

With aid from the U.S. Department of Energy, engineering and geospatial researchers at the University of Arkansas are working to mitigate these disturbances by developing a Web-based, decision-support tool that will help energy companies plan for development to minimize adverse impacts on sensitive ecosystems. The researchers’ work will serve as a model for the application of a proactive approach to reduce and manage risks associated with the exploration and production of natural gas in the United States.

“All development affects the environment and ecosystems,” said Greg Thoma, professor of chemical engineering and principal investigator on the project. “What our work will do is provide information and tools to make sure this impact is minimal. That’s the Department of Energy’s basic goal with the Fayetteville Shale Play and other formations that have been identified or are opening up.”

Specifically, Thoma and co-principal investigators Khursheed Karim, assistant professor of chemical engineering, John Veil with Argonne National Laboratory and Fred Limp and Jackson Cothren at the University of Arkansas Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies will develop Web-based application modules that will assist natural gas production companies in creating plans for resource extraction in sensitive ecosystems. The modules will help these companies identify areas that are particularly susceptible to disturbance so that risks can be minimized in advance or areas can be avoided altogether.

To achieve this, the researchers will build three-dimensional maps of the geographical area of the play with underlying databases including important environmental and cultural features. For example, they are gathering information from state and federal regulatory agencies about sensitive watersheds and habitats in the area. With this information and CAST’s powerful mapping tools, the decision-support system will be able to recommend development sites away from sensitive areas.

“Many times, this simply means building an access road or locating a well just a few hundred yards from the proposed site,” Thoma said. “These shifts can make a significant difference in terms of limiting runoff into streams or threatening wildlife habitat, such as a nesting area.”

When finished, the multi-purpose system will serve as a type of clearinghouse of information and thus will educate the general public about the play and the process of extracting natural gas from it. The life cycle of a lease will be explained in detail, which will help the public understand stages of operation and industry’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

“There is a public perception that oil and gas exploration and production operations are always bad for the environment,” Thoma said. “While all development carries an environmental cost, it is important for the public to know that these companies are very serious about practices that have minimal impact. They have demonstrated this by huge investments in modern technologies, most particularly the use of horizontal drilling technologies that allow placement of a well in a manner that can extract natural gas from beneath a sensitive area without being near the surface.”

The online system will facilitate communication among all stakeholders, including government, regulatory officials and industry representatives. Communication among the stakeholders in the play will foster an atmosphere of cooperation that should result in early identification of potential problems that can be jointly resolved in a way that protects the environment without unnecessary delays to development of the play.

The initial stage of research involved identification of all major stakeholders and a brief description of their role. Important stakeholders include:

• The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission, which is the primary regulatory body for exploration drilling and production.

• The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, which regulates on-site storage and disposal of all byproducts extracted from wells.

• The Arkansas Geological Commission, which is a repository of geological data.  

• The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, which oversees wellhead and water well protection.

• The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, which maintains a database of endangered species.

• The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees resource extraction on all federal lands.

• The U.S. Forest Service, which defines allowable surface impacts on federal land.

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for enforcement of the Endangered Species Act.

• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which enforces section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

Currently, Southwestern Energy Inc. and Chesapeake Energy Inc. are the two major companies that have begun production in the play. However, in the coming years, several other smaller companies are expected to sign leases and begin exploration and production.

The research project, titled “Probabilistic Risk Based Decision Support for Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Facilities in Sensitive Ecosystems,” is one of three “Low-Impact Natural Gas and Oil” (LINGO) projects funded by the Department of Energy.  In the summer of 2006, the University of Arkansas team and Argonne National Laboratory jointly received a $499,500 grant to begin the project. As Thoma mentioned above, the goal of each LINGO project is to integrate current technologies and practices in the effort to find and produce oil and gas with ultra-low environmental impact.

Approximately 50 miles wide from north to south, the Fayetteville Shale is a geological, natural gas formation that stretches across Arkansas from an area east of Fort Smith to the Mississippi River. The Fayetteville Shale Play encompasses the region of the shale formation with sufficient reserves to allow economical extraction of natural gas. This is roughly the region north of Interstate 40 between Fort Smith and Little Rock. Geologists describe the formation as tight, which means it requires fracturing to produce economic quantities of gas. Currently, there are approximately 2 million acres under lease to production companies in the play. It is anticipated that thousands of wells will be drilled during the next several years. This activity will include construction and installation of roads and pipelines, as well as drilling fluid disposal pits and infrastructure to handle hundreds of millions of gallons of fluids for fracturing shale.