Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas
The long-awaited monograph “Regulating Water Security in Unconventional Oil and Gas” has published.
The Ukrainian monograph section is devoted to problems of the political ecology of shale gas exploitation in Ukraine.
The book offers global coverage, representing developments in all world regions either actually producing shale gas or seriously considering it as of 2017 .
The Ukrainian monograph section is a result of creative cooperation of prof. Olena Mitryasova, prof. Volodymyr Pohrebennyk and prof. Chad Staddon.
The chapter explores the main problems associated with the use of hydraulic fracturing for the production of shale gas in Ukraine. Special attention is paid to water issues. A detailed SWOT-analysis of the problem was carried out. Territorial distribution of water resources is uneven and unfortunately does not match the regions of greatest energy or mineral abundance. The smallest amount of water is found in places of concentration of powerful industrial consumers – the Donbass, Kryvorizhzhya, and the southern region of Ukraine. Areas of potential shale gas coincide with the areas of the smallest available water resources and areas with the greatest density of population. Experience elsewhere and the now well-known specifics of the hydraulic fracturing process allows us to identify potential threats to the environmental security of the country: pollution of clean groundwater and surface waters of Ukraine; utilization of large quantities of fresh water in the Yuzhivska and Oleska basins, especially in densely populated regions; degradation of large natural areas; emissions of greenhouse gases exacerbating climate change; the occurrence of seismic phenomena; and the degradation of natural landscapes.