German oil and gas producer association WEG Wednesday defended hydraulic fracturing techniques, saying that there was no material need for tighter environmental impact assessment rules within the federal mining law because of several decades of experience with the use of the technology.
"The fracturing process has been applied in Germany since the 1960s, and the procedure did not impair the usable ground water in any of the around 300 applications," WEG managing director Josef Schmid said in a statement.
"The existing approval process already comprehensively considers issues related to environmental law, water-related aspects in particular. Therefore, a change to the mining law's environmental impact assessment ordinance is materially not necessary," he said.
WEG's comments came as North Rhine Westphalia's state authorities anticipate the state of Lower Saxony coming forward with competing draft EIA rule amendments following the submission of their own proposals to the upper house of parliament (Bundesrat) in late June, according to a state environment ministry spokesman.
Hydraulic fracturing has been extensively used in both oil and gas production, when flow rates were low, as well as in the recovery of geothermal energy, WEG spokesman Hartmut Pick said.
The technology helps recover a commodity trapped in low-permeability rock, such as shale, tight sandstones or coal beds, by pressuring a mix of water, sand and chemicals into the well to create fractures in the rock through which the commodity can flow.
Addressing public concerns over the potentially adverse effects of fracturing in unconventional gas output on ground water and the use of natural resources, NRW's state government in late June initiated a legal review by asking the Bundesrat to tighten the current approval process for oil and gas extraction projects.
In a formal request submitted to parliament June 26, NRW suggested the extension of EIA and public consultation requirements to the exploration stage and to oil and gas projects encompassing at least three drilling locations as well as to individual gas drillings involving the use of fracturing technology.
Under existing rules, an EIA -- and with it public consultation -- is only required when a project reaches the production stage and exceeds defined daily output quantities.
In gas production, it applies solely to drillings exceeding a daily output volume of 500,000 cubic meters, which effectively excludes projects based on extraction from shale rocks and coal beds.
WEG suggests that the removal of the minimum daily output requirement attached to EIAs could be considered in field development and when the fracturing technology is used for extraction from shale rocks and coal beds. An EIA could be made obligatory if initial tests found that a planned project might have an adverse environmental impact, it said.
Although Lower Saxony accounts for about 95% of Germany's indigenous gas output of around 12 billion cu m/year, NRW has been attracting strong interest for unconventional gas exploration, with currently 10 applications seeking an exploration permit, one seeking a drilling permit and exploration permits for 20 fields issued.
Companies such as US ExxonMobil have been interested in the area.
However, the approval process in this area was suspended in March until an expert opinion and associated risk analysis provides guidance on the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing.
The study is expected to be completed by summer 2012, according to NRW's environment ministry spokesman Frank Seidlitz.
Lower Saxony's economics ministry was not available to confirm it was to mount its own legal initiative.
