Gas Well/Water Well Subsurface Contamination—Plan for Investigation

With the advent of horizontal drilling and frac technologies which allow the commercial production of oil and gas from very low permeability rocks, onshore North America is undergoing a historic drilling boom.  Environmental concerns accompany this boom.  Is oil and gas drilling, fracking, and production endangering the nation’s groundwater supplies?  Or, more specifically, has your client’s water well been contaminated or is your client’s gas well being blamed for that contamination?  This presentation provides a brief description (understandable to the layman) of the tools and methods of investigation which will be useful for litigation support in cases involving contamination of a water well by the operations conducted at an oil or gas well.  None of these technologies are new, though they may be unfamiliar to the layman and to environmental consultants who have no specific background in oil and gas drilling and production.  One of the oil and gas industry’s essential tasks is to figure out how and where gas, oil, and water are migrating in the subsurface and around wellbores.  Every investigation will be unique, and the tools and methods may be utilized in any sequence or combination that satisfies the client’s needs and objectives.