Coalbed Methane HSE & Service Quality
Coalbed methane success depends on HSE performance
It is a given that today, companies must meet or exceed environmental, health and safety standards required by law. Halliburton has always gone beyond compliance levels to focus on sustainability in everything we do. From developing environmentally-friendly fluids, to our carbon capture and storage expertise, we understand how critical it is to leave the places where we work better than we found them. This is especially important in coalbed methane (CBM).
Reducing our environmental footprint for a sustainable energy future
While alternative fuels have promise, the need for traditional fuels – including natural gas and oil – is likely to remain substantial for decades. But there are significant environmental challenges; for example, natural gas resources are more and more frequently being produced from unconventional plays (e.g., gas shales, tight sands and coalbed methane) and cannot be adequately secured and delivered to the customer economically without the use of fracture stimulation technology.
The oil and gas industry protects the environment by taking steps to prevent the escape of fracture stimulation fluids from wells and formations. Operators use a steel casing or liner which is then cemented in place to isolate the surrounding rock from the reservoir. These zonal isolation techniques seal off and protect drinking water from fluids used in wells. In addition, fracture stimulation activities take place at depths that are typically thousands of feet deeper than any groundwater aquifers that could reasonably be considered a source of drinking water.
Even so, Halliburton continues to improve our fracture stimulation fluids and processes to further enhance their overall environmental performance. While the majority of fracturing fluids are sand and water, the remaining portion involves complex chemistry, much of which has been created through Halliburton's research and development efforts, and which is managed in accordance with proper industry and governmental procedures.
Applying carbon capture and storage expertise to coalbed methane
When coal, oil and gas are burned, they all produce carbon dioxide as a common byproduct. Until recently, this “man-made” CO2 wasn't considered a serious environmental threat. But now many studies show carbon dioxide to be the major human-generated source of greenhouse gases. And the world is aggressively looking for practical ways to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions. By capturing and sequestering CO2 into the ground, the industry has the potential to not only reduce emissions but also enhance oil and gas production.
In coalbed methane, as in other methods of producing oil and gas, CO2 can be injected into the ground to enhance production. This is not a new concept – Halliburton has been working with CO2 injection for more than 40 years. This allows producers to extract methane from coal beds as shallow as 985 feet (300 meters) deep. Halliburton continues to apply its carbon capture and storage expertise to stimulate production and protect the environment, making carbon capture and storage a reality.
