Vibroseis machine used for seismic testing. Photo: Cuadrilla Resources
The shale gas company, Cuadrilla, has announced plans to carry out seismic surveys in a field next to its Preston New Road site near Blackpool.
In an email to the site’s community liaison group, the company said the work would help to establish the best locations underground to drill the two planned horizontal wells.
It said the work was expected to be done late this month (December) or early in 2018 and would take two to three days.
Cuadrilla said it would use what’s known as an articulated hydrostatic vehicle, equipped with a seismic vibroseis unit (see picture above).
The vehicle creates sound waves underground. They are reflected back from different rock layers. The company said it could build up an accurate picture of the subsurface at the exploration site by measuring how long it took for the sound waves to be reflected back.
“This helps us in positioning the horizontal exploration wells some 2km underground. This is a standard practice used in seismic surveys across the country.”
Cuadrilla said the vibroseis unit would be positioned above the bottom of the pilot hole currently being drilled from the Preston New Road site (marked on the image below by Expected Well TD).
Location and well head and seismic testing area. Image: Cuadrilla Resources
The email said:
“The information on the shale rock from this survey at this single point above the pilot hole will be matched with the wider data obtained from Cuadrilla’s seismic survey of the Fylde carried out in 2012.
“Together this combined information will be used to inform the optimum subsurface locations for drilling of two horizontal wells in the shale rock from the Preston New Road site.”
Cuadrilla said the work was not expected to exceed the noise limits set in the planning condition for Preston New Road.
- Cuadrilla is hosting its third public webcast tour of Preston New Road tomorrow (Friday 8 December 2017) from 2pm-3pm. The tour can be viewed online at http://pnrlive.co.uk Details
Categories: Industry
DRILL OR DROP? 
Two to three days! The nanas must be besides themselves with worry about the destruction. Actually they are by themselves and maybe not even that. Let it snow
Interesting, just precisely what resonant frequencies do these articulated hydrostatic vehicle, equipped with a seismic vibroseis unit work on?
Richter scale?
Lorry passing over a manhole?
Tea cup rippling? What does that do to the subsoil?
Liquidation?
Compaction?
Settlement?
Cavitation?
Collapsing and damaging services?
Are services scanned for and marked out by professional scanner companies prior to operation? Are the utility services notified about the vibration to be made near to or on top of subsurface services?
Consultations as to the age and likely integrity or weakness of nearby services?
I am sure all these apparently erudite and sober minded anti anti individuals posting as adults here have just that sort of data just begging to be disseminated from their vast wealth of knowledge and experience?
These are interesting questions aren’t they?
I shall wait to be impressed……..or not.
Blackpool Tower might fall over
Not.
Michael – If you can work in your joke about dihydrogen monoxide here too then we would have your full routine. Goodness how we would laugh!
Always some tree huggers trying to stop progress if we listened to them we would still be getting around by horse & cart remember the motorway protests good chance this is the same rabble
Strange that there are yet to be posts about the decline in property prices-remember them from FOE ref. err the Lake District!!!
Not to worry, that’s all sorted now KM is to be eradicated. BUT-this is Kirkby Moor (Cumbria).!!!! “This decision is a victory for the communities who live in the shadow of this development imposed on them. Now we need to make sure that every trace of the turbines is removed when the current consent expires next year”
THE REMOVAL OF UNWANTED WIND TURBINES FROM CUMBRIA. Property prices should escalate. More to follow, elsewhere in the country. The bats will be delighted.
Vivergo being mothballed. £250m investment into processing grain that could help feed the starving into bioethanol-no longer economic without further subsidy from the taxpayer.
Oh dear, oh dear. This alternative energy is such a great idea, if you ignore the economics. No wonder the antis do so.
Ruth – excellent post, and great job keeping everyone informed. I’m concerned about the regulatory position for Cuadrilla fracking inside its EXL268 license area and – according to the map – continuing westwards across the border of its EXL268 license to finish inside
a different license area: PEDL165 license. So, does holding an EXL give the right to the holder to frack beyond the border of its EXL into a neighbouring PEDL? True, in this case both the EXL and PEDL are held by the Cuadrilla group, but it may set a legal precedent of permission for a EXL to trespass beyond its legal boundar. That apart, as I understand it, the approved 600-page Environmental Statement by ARUP was for Cuardrilla to conduct a frack test, and no more than a frack test. I have read the 600-page document and cannot remember reading about the frack test including an incursion beyond the EXL border. In addition, the Environmental Statement is now recognised to have a gaping hole in it, as ARUP seriously underestimated the possibility of encountering high concentrations of H2S during it fracking test in which case the sour methane product ofd the test will not be able to be piped into the national gas grid as planned, and emergency measures have not been put in place for any large H2S outburst, as detailed here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321485574_Geological_concerns_about_fracking_the_Bowland_shales_of_NW_England_Briefing_Note_4_Major_Hazards_from_Hydrogen_Sulphide_Gas
You do realise that H2S poisoning is avoided by keeping the gas in pipes, and that there is H2S in the UK gas grid and has been for decades? There have been many wells drilled here and if there is an issue then it would be known about. If concentrations were high then it can easily be dealt with. It is common in some areas. http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Terms/h/h2s.aspx
Basically this is a non issue.
Odd that I have never heard of this before, in this very open process, where every document is open to public scrutiny.
Similar with the area licensing. I am sure that whatever is proposed will be within what the company is allowed to do. It is all licenced by the OGA and loads of other bodies.
This report does not seem to be about H2S in the pipes/grid:
‘ONSHORE H2S Seepages in the Bowland Basin
8.1 The Issue
Offshore H2S has proved manageable during conventional oil and gas exploration and production.
Onshore H2S is less likely to be unmanageable due not only to the intrinsically greater risks of unconventional fracking but also due to the high risk of suddenly encountering ‘hotspots’ of H2S rich sour gas anywhere at depth under West Lancashire.’
and
‘Of shocking concern, communities have received scant information on H2S from operators about
emergency planning, training and evacuations for blowouts, explosions, fires and toxic plumes.’
The report is comprehensive and with many references to check. I may be some time……….
You have no idea what you are talking about Sherwolfe. I have worked in a severe H2S environment and received training in it and had to try to rescue someone who was knocked out by iy.
Your post has no content.
Hi Ken, I guess a possible reason that you suggest H2S is “Basically this is a non issue” is linked to your openness is saying “Odd that I have never heard of this before, in this very open process, where every document is open to public scrutiny.” Possibly this stems from the weighty Environmental Statement prepared by ARUP for Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road fracking test. Indeed it is a document open to public scrutiny in a very open process. However in 600 pages of well-presented good stuff it is dismissive of H2S being significant at depth in the frackable Bowland-Hodder shales, on the evidence of boreholes drilled so far. Unfortunately the 600 pages does not present any details of this evidence. Public scrutiny failed to request and require such evidence to be put on the table and open to examination. In addition, the ARUP Environmental Statement is flawed in not mentioning material evidence the abundance of H2S to both the west and east of the Fylde: WESTWARDS – that H2S is prevalent in oil and gas fields platforms close offshore from Blackpool prom, and the methane gas has to be expensively treated in large plants at Rampside and Point-of-Ayr to remove the H2S sufficiently to feed the now-sweet methane into the national gas grid. The geochemical fingerprint of the gas indicates it originates from the Bowland-Hodder shales at great depth. EASTWARDS – that H2S discharges naturally to the atmosphere at numerous locations in Lancashire and has done since the first written records several hundred years ago, notably Inglewhite, Hodder valley, Crimpton, Whalley, Clitheroe, Downham, Twiston, Bolton-by-Bowland, Wigglesworth, Thornton, Skipton, Harrogate, and indeed south of Preston at Mawdesley and Tarleton. None of the 40 natural H2S venting sites are mentioned in the ARUP Environmental Statement even though many of them are associated in various ways with surface areas of Bowland-Hodder shales as mapped by the British Geological Survey BGS. So yes Ken it is indeed odd that the ARUP Environmental Statement, Cuadrilla and the BGS did not raise the fact that H2S is abundant to both the west (offshore oil and gas wells) and to the east (40 natural H2S gas seeps). ARUP, Cuadrilla and BGS now need time to conduct internal investigations how these material facts were not brought to the attention of regulatory authorities, and meanwhile for the regulatory authorities to suspend the permission to frack anywhere in the Fylde or West Lancashire until the Environmental Statement has been withdrawn and extensively rewritten to address the H2S concerns. Ken, only then will you and the regulators be able to judge if the H2S concerns are then a “non-issue” but until then H2S concerns are definitely a major issue based on the mass of facts about voluminous H2S to both west and east, as presented in the report on Researchgate uploaded this week but nowhere mentioned in the 600-page ARUP report.
Everyone will be able to judge whether H2S is an “issue” or a “non-issue” once they test the well.
So Ken, all I have put are the references from the document. I have not at anytime professed expertise. My post has content as an observation. When I have digested the material, I may come up with another comment. In the meantime Robin Grayson MSc has the floor…..
Genuine question, didn’t they carry out seismic surveys before constructing the pad and drilling the well? Is this odd or standard practice? One would have thought they had detailed survey information already. Given all the problems they have had with flooding and hitting an artesian well, could that be the reason for seismic surveys now?
Its an exploration well KT. They want as much data as possible. I have run downhole seismic detectors many years ago offshore in Bangladesh on wireline. I believe that a downhole microphone system allows much better accuracy in depth. Thats why one of the plugged wells is to be set up as a ‘listening well’, to map the fractures in the shale more accurately.
‘They want as much data as possible’
Apparently not
Preese Hall 1 was an exploration well.
According to the communications between HSE and Cuadrilla
No 3D survey was undertaken before the fracking of Preese Hall
Cement bond logs were run after the fracking had taken place.
No surprise as Cuadrilla were asking HSE on when a CBL was required after the Preese Hall events and who was responsible for the interpretation of the logs.
You would have thought they would have wanted to know what they were drilling through and whether their casings were sound.
They also decided to sink shallow well gas monitors after the Preese Hall failures
Presumably they have concerns over the integrity of their wells.
Very concerning that this company is being allowed to continue operations at all, never mind on a larger scale.
Do you have any idea how a cement bond log works John Powney? Apparently not. I was trained in their usage and have run dozens and interpreted many more as my company’s most senior engineer.
They are very unreliable and do not work well at all in larger casings. The HSE did not require CBLs in the larger casings anyway because of that. A much better indication is 100% returns, good flow and surface returns when expected (Sorry if I lost you there)
The problem is you are trying to apply gut feeling to something that requires a scientific background and years of experience and knowledge of drilling, something you clearly do not have. Its a common theme for people who have no knowledge of drilling to pass comment on matters they do not understand. This is presumably to indicate that the company is incompetent. There is no data to support that.
Professor of Petroleum Geophysics Quentin Fisher was commenting on this yesterday. Apparently with the iron content of carboniferous shales, H2S would be converted into iron pyrites and so would not be an issue.
But what would he know?
Cuadrilla have extensive field knowledge of the area and I gather H2S is not an issue. By that I mean they have drilled through the formations and produced gas and there are no issues that I have heard of. All well data is made public anyway so I can see no logic in suspending any test. This is a question for experts, and they appear to have no concerns and they have access to the data.
It looks like another fake news story designed to whip up hysteria about an issue that engineers deal with. The concentration of H2S is the key thing. Trace amounts mean little. There have been concerns about bat studies, imaginary artesian wells and the like all designed to get the frack process stopped, and you appear to be adding to that canon of work Robin. It will be ignored as you are not a specialist. (Nether am I BTW)
Hi Ken, over the next couple of days I will respond to the five main concerns that you raise regarding the technical report on Researchgate regarding the risk of high levels of hydrogen sulphide being encountered during fracking in the Fylde. This will give you and others time to read and digest the report.
To download the report, just do a Google Search with this sentence “Geological concerns about fracking the Bowland shales of NW England. Briefing Note #4 :Major Hazards from Hydrogen Sulphide Gas”, go to the site and click to download the PDF.
Here is a list of your five main concerns:
KEN#1: “Professor of Petroleum Geophysics Quentin Fisher was commenting on this yesterday. Apparently with the iron content of carboniferous shales, H2S would be converted into iron pyrites and so would not be an issue.”
KEN#2: “Cuadrilla have extensive field knowledge of the area and I gather H2S is not an issue. By that I mean they have drilled through the formations and produced gas and there are no issues that I have heard of.”
KEN#3: “All well data is made public anyway so I can see no logic in suspending any test.”
KEN#4: “This is a question for experts, and they appear to have no concerns and they have access to the data.”
KEN#5: “It looks like another fake news story designed to whip up hysteria about an issue that engineers deal with.”
We don’t have to be tree huggers to be concerned about our environment! And progress is debatable when I read some of these jeering, obnoxious, juvenile comments, from adults!! Climate change will affect us all!!
Thank you, LM, (and Ruth). The adults are here, LM, but there are names you learn to ignore for the reasons you mention. Much as we’ve learned to ignore a certain US President as possessing views not compatible with rational discourse, and modes of expressing them best confined to his own circle.
Just do what needs to be done. Carry on
So, John, you can have no complaints that this time Cuadrilla are being so much more circumspect and meticulous??
Thought not.
Seems to be going a little slow and problematically to a casual local observer. Bent pipes coming out, the shallow aquifer being predictably ruptured in July with drilling mud issuing out under the pad membrane into the surrounding field, vast quantities of water pumped out and tankered away as they went through this now polluted shallow aquifer. Then limitation of the horizontal down to 1Km from the original 2km (maybe as they were heading west through a fault Prof Smythe highlighted to them). Now more vibroseis as they’ve found the geology more complicated, fault ridden and twisted than they first thought. Not down vertically below 1700metres yet I believe. Of course the local Cuadrilla personnel will go on paying themselves as long as possible even though it might be an obvious no-hoper! Who wouldn’t – roll on the next loan from Centrica, peanuts to them – just a few more pence on the price of consumer gas.
You mean the same Cuadrilla, Richard, who are paying out to the locals, as well as their staff? Can’t be correct, there were “no jobs” going to be created. Tanker drivers now, seismic operatives now, new pipes being purchased now. All that lovely taxation to help fund Winter Fuel payments for us OAPs. “Artic freeze to last for at least 10 days. Risk of death.” Turn up the heating thermostat, and order a few more ship loads of US gas from their fracking.
It seems tough going for Cuadrilla drilling program. They are now way behind schedule and they cant put the blames on the unruly protesters. Still not drilling horizontal yet which is expected to complete by now. Early days and problem already. Not impressive as a pioneer front runner for uk shale. Investors must be biting their finger nails right now and the anti frackers across the road are rubbing their hands with glee to watch Cuadrilla predicament and shortfalls.