Scientists from the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) and Berkeley’s Lawrence National Laboratory released the first volume of an independent scientific assessment of well stimulation in California, including hydraulic fracturing.

Among its findings:  fracked wells in California tend to be shallower and more vertical than in many other states, resulting in the use of less water but more concentrated chemicals.

The report, titled “An Independent Scientific Assessment of Well Stimulation Technologies in California: Well Stimulation Technologies and their Past, Present, and Potential Future Use in California”, was commissioned by the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) pursuant to Senate Bill 4.

It is available on the CCST website.

The second and third volumes of the three-part report will be released in July.

Key findings and conclusions of the first volume include:

• Over the last decade, one-fifth of oil and gas production in California came from wells that used hydraulic fracturing. Operators in California fractured about 125 to 175 wells of the approximately 300 wells installed per month.
• Fracking in California differs from other states, so experience in other states does not necessarily apply to California. Fracking tends to be used in shallower, vertical wells in California, rather than horizontal wells. Fracking here requires much less water per well, but uses fluids with more concentrated chemicals than in other states.
• 96% of hydraulic fracturing in California is in the southwestern portion of the San Joaquin Basin. It is likely to be used in existing oil fields there for the foreseeable future.
• Production projections in the Monterey Formation are highly uncertain. The researchers found no reports of significant Monterey production. If operators attempt production in the play, they will need to use hydraulic fracturing.
• Large natural gas plays, like the Marcellus, Barnett or Piceance basins in which fracking is used, probably do not exist in California. Most of the undiscovered natural gas reservoirs in California are likely to be similar to reservoirs already in production that do not use stimulation.
• The majority of offshore production does not use fracking; only about 16 fracking operations are conducted each year in state waters, mainly on man-made islands close to the Los Angeles coastline.
• Acid well stimulation is used much less often than hydraulic fracturing and is not expected to increase significantly, because geologic conditions in the state’s oil reservoirs are not amenable to acid stimulation.