Hydraulic fracturing: Geomechanics of naturally fractured shale and risk assessment

水力压裂（HF）是石油和天然气工业中用于非常规致密气和页岩气开发（SGD）的关键使能技术。即使在HF设计和优化方面的适度发展对加拿大的潜在经济价值也是巨大的。加拿大各地已知的SGD储层将需要约3.2万亿美元才能完全开发。公众对潜在环境和健康风险的关注（例如，然而，HF业务的风险（饮用水污染）一直在增加，部分原因是HF的风险尚未以系统或透明的方式进行评估。加拿大没有针对HF的正式风险框架，导致魁北克和安大略等一些省份暂停使用HF。 拟议中的项目汇集了来自大学和Territory Technologies Inc.的研究人员。(TTI)a）通过计算机模拟，创造关于天然裂缝页岩地质力学的新知识，开发经济和环境上更可持续的创新HF做法;和B）为全面风险评估和管理框架奠定基础，为加拿大公共政策提供信息。作为该领域的主要利益相关者，TTI有能力在未来三到十年内调动项目期间开发的知识和技术并将其商业化。将通过出版物向学术界、通过风险讲习班向利益攸关方、通过项目网站和风险数据库向公众宣传知识。 该项目将在自然科学和社会科学领域培养三名博士、四名硕士和十二名本科生。这是该项目的一个关键变革特征，因为HF活动将在未来五年内在加拿大大幅增加（就像在美国一样）。非营利组织、监管机构和行业需要一支合格的劳动力队伍，他们需要社会科学和工程方面的专业知识。在接下来的三年里，该项目将在加拿大SGD的关键时刻注入实现SGD经济潜力所需的技术，知识和专家，同时确保环境可持续性和公共健康。

Hydraulic Fracturing (HF) is a critical enabling technology for unconventional tight gas and shale gas development (SGD) in the Oil and Gas Industry. The potential economic value to Canada of even modest developments in HF design and optimization is immense. Known SGD reservoirs across Canada will require about $3.2 trillion to fully develop. Public concern for the potential environmental and health risks (e.g., drinking water contamination) of HF operations has been growing, in part, because the risks of HF have not been evaluated in a systematic or transparent way. Canada does not have a formal risk framework in place for HF, leading some provinces such as Quebec and Ontario to introduce moratoriums on HF. The proposed project brings together researchers from the Universities and Terralog Technologies Inc. (TTI) to a) develop innovative HF practices that are more economically and environmentally sustainable by creating new knowledge about geomechanics in naturally fractured shale through computer simulations; and b) develop the foundations for a comprehensive risk assessment and management framework to inform Canadian public policy. As a key stakeholder in this space, TTI is well positioned to mobilize and commercialize the knowledge and technology developed during the project within the next three to ten years. Knowledge will be mobilized for academics through publications, to the stakeholders through risk workshops, and to the general public through the project website and risk database. This project will train three Doctoral, four Master's, and twelve undergraduates in both the natural and social sciences. This is a key transformative feature of the project as HF activities will substantially increase in Canada over the next five years (as it has in the U.S.) and a qualified workforce will be needed by non-profit organizations, regulators, and industry with expertise from the social sciences and engineering. Over the next three years this project will inject, at a critical time in SGD in Canada, technology, knowledge, and experts needed to realize the economic potential of SGD while ensuring environmental sustainability and public heath.