Risk Analysis and Indentification of Environmental Impacts Associated with Hydraulic Fracturing in Shale Gas Production

Abstract

The production of shale gas in Brazil has great potential to meet the country's energy needs. This process uses hydraulic fracturing, which is a good stimulation method, that induces fractures in the reservoir rock by injecting a fracturing fluid into it. Therefore, it permits increasing the permeability around the well, and the well's productivity index. It is crucial to understand the operation and the factors influencing the process to mitigate the risks involved in hydraulic fracturing. This work aims to identify and analyze the possible failure modes and their risks through risk analysis methods [Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and Fault-Tree Analysis (FTA)], in addition to connecting them to environmental impacts. We expected that this integrated method would support the safe monitoring of the technique in the future.