Waterless Fracking: good or bad?

I recently read about the 25 Best inventions in 2013 in Time Magazine and since fracking is close to our hearts in South Africa with Shell and some other petroleum giants considering prospecting in the Karoo, this extract really caught my interest.  On Cape Talk 56.7 last week Mike Wills was discussing the impact this new fracking technology might have in South Africa with a specialist at the Water Research Commission (WRC), if and when (I reckon it's more a case of when than if) fracking is in full swing here.

To put this in perspective, traditional hydraulic fracturing uses water, sand and chemicals, which is pumped underground via a wellbore under high pressure to break or fracture the shale rocks to release shale gas, tight oil, tight gas and coal seam gas.  Now the issues the environmentalists and the public have with this technique are the potential environmental impacts, including contamination of ground water, depletion of fresh water, risks to air quality, noise pollution, the migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, surface contamination from spills and flow-back, and the health effects of these.  With the Karoo being a very sensitive area with high water scarcity, the possibility of even excavating for shale gas has created a whole anti-fracking movement in South Africa.  The Treasure the Karoo Action Group lead by Jonathan Deal has become a household name here starting in 2011 with the invocation of a moratorium on shale gas mining (SGM) based on the Critical Review of Shell's draft EMP (Environmental Management Plan).  This year October saw the release of the draft technical regulations for oil and gas exploration and production from shale gas mining using hydraulic fracturing.  The public were given 30 days to comment with the TKAG submitting a response to the gazetted draft regulations (of 38 pages compared to TKAG draft of over 300 pages) and requesting an extension of the public participation period.  No answer from government has been forthcoming.

So far this is the the current picture of fracking in South Africa.  Now let's step back and look at the new technology of waterless fracking.  A Canadian oilfield service company called GasFrac has recently developed 'propane fracturing' and succesfully put it to use commercially in the USA states of Ohio and Texas as well as Canada.  This technology uses gelled propane to fracture shale and thereafter the shale gas (or oil) extracted.  They claim many environmental and economic benefits from this new method...but lets break it down into the advantages and disadvantages:

1. A fracking well uses on average 12 million litres of water.  There is some overflow back up the well and this needs to be treated and disposed of.  Gelled propane will not use this water or have the overflow = Advantage.
2. Water fracturing causes formation damage in wells which closes flow pathways and inhibits the production of oil and gas.  This new method causes much less formation damage which keeps productivity of the well high and more profitable = Advantage.
3. The total life cycle water usage is however not clear.  In order to produce and then liquify propane gas, a great deal of water is used.  So even though water is not used in the fracturing process, the overall water use could still be high = Disadvantage.
4. The gelled propane becomes a gas once discharged underground.  This is highly explosive and if any leaks occur this could incur massive damage and safety risks.  Even though GasFrac say that they have multiple safety barriers in place this still poses a major risk = Disadvantage
5. GasFrac have mentioned the use of 'proprietary chemicals' in producing the gelled propane.  These chemicals are released underground with the propane and could contaminate the groundwater.  So in the absence of substantial information = Disadvantage.
6. The cost of gelled propane is higher than water so this will have to be weighed up against the better efficiency of overall recovery and profitability of the process against water fracturing. Advantage/Disadvantage?  Maybe too soon to comment.

A great deal of the data from these propane wells haven't been released by the companies using the GasFrac technology, so the profitability and efficiency of the wells cannot be quantified as yet.  However, with the Karoo being a water scarce area, this might (or will) be the technology of choice when the big energy companies plan their next move.  

The Treasure the Karoo Action Group must be aware of this for the next round.