Protecting the Environment

TAKEAWAY: PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

The reality is hydraulic fracturing has been performed more than a million times over the past six decades in the United States alone. Documented instances of freshwater contamination have been extremely rare. I would like to say that when a well is designed and constructed correctly, groundwater will actually not be contaminated.

Having said that, our industry needs to work with governments to do a better job of addressing these concerns.

Strong regulations and tough enforcements are needed to ensure all operators drill shale gas or shale wells properly and protect groundwater and the environment.

Shale development must be done in a demonstrably responsible way to gain public support. At Shell, we also support regulations to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids and to promote transparency and public engagement by the shale gas industry in relation to all its activities. Here in the United States, we already publicly disclose our fracturing fluid chemicals through the FracFocus online registry to the extent allowed, I have to say, under our supplier contracts, because still some do not allow us to do so.