While us mere mortals have to struggle down in the weeds to learn something of each new and complex subject with which we have to deal, it is comforting to know that there are intellectual giants such as Liam Halligan who are able to reach down and guide us in our endeavours.

Thus does this Gifted Hack tell us not to get too excited about shale gas. And, as a measure of his great intellect, he tells us in no uncertain terms: "While I’m no geologist, reports of 'earthquakes' in Lancashire during recent 'pilot fracks' make worrying reading".

One might, however, respectfully suggest that Halligan widens his reading a tad, perhaps taking in the Royal Society study, which has this to say about these "earthquakes" ...

View full article here

Whilst I am actually very concerned about the doming and plethora of minor earthquakes occurring now under a corner of Wyoming in a place called Yellowstone Park and always on the watch as regards nearer to us in Southern Italy around Naples + Iceland and Icelandic seismology, a bit further afield in Indonesia and the Kamchatka peninsula.

I do feel totally unconcerned by minor tremors caused by man made activities under the fields of the Fylde here in Britain.

I mean lets get some measure of perspective here, minor earth tremors caused by hydraulic fracturing are barely perceptible, in Japan, regular quakes (BIG) of Richter scale magnitude 5 and 6 are suffered lightly.

Edited by user 17 December 2012 20:38:58(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Unlike most of bloggers this useful idiot gets paid for his writing. I am glad I no longer need to buy the paper to access his pearls of wisdom.

Halliagan from his Wicki



They are based in Russia and you don't bite Putins hand....Halligan has previously said he works for them in his column.

I read that article and thought what a shame, as he is very sound on what is wrong with the Financial system/economy.......but I guess he values his kneecaps/life.

Thank you for the first genuine belly laugh of the day.

Illuminating.Well whether Halligan likes this or not, it is irrelevant....this is going ahead.

He d have been one of the ones who cheered the Red Flag Act 150 years ago which required a man with a flag to precede the early motor cars ....come to think of it,maybe Putin has some old red flags left over from the good ol' days he can wave at the drilling sites.

Had a quick look at his employers, PCM,and found this nice little disclaimer.



http://www.prosperitycap...m/compliance/?ref=/funds


So no need to invest in any of those dangerous UK fields, give it to the Russian mafia instead.

Edited by user 17 December 2012 18:00:10(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Shale gas, the way forward. That said, we hear citations that the energy cost is reducing for Mr Average American by the cost filtering down to the consumer, conversely in our once great country, probably extracted by foreign entities, the net result will be the filtering up of profit margins by the producers and then said profit exported. Our successive governments couldn't win a raffle even if they bought all the tickets.

Just to punch up this argument a little, we might also note that if it is indeed too costly it will go away on its own. He needn't worry about it. That's the genius of profit and loss. If your outputs are valued more that your inputs, you create value for yourself and your customers and carry on, until someone comes up with a more valuable output from them and bids them away from you. If your outputs are valued less than your inputs, you go out of business (unless you are a large bank or other politically connected entity which can grab some tax), freeing those inputs for more productive uses. He can therefore put his mind to rest, having not been forced to stump up any capital for this private enterprise, that if it is indeed very costly, it will go away without his needless pontificating.

(Side note: this analysis of course does not apply to green tech. Since it is being funded by our expropriated resources, and we are forced to buy it, the true cost and benefit of it is therefore properly of concern to all taxpayers)

Edited by user 17 December 2012 21:54:37(UTC)  | Reason: structure

Its not the damage of the earthquakes , its fairly irrelevant , its the actual movement , depth , and its conduit potential for percolation along the fault plane .... that's where it gets interesting ......

I notice that the fracking companies appear to be getting tax subsidies as well , as an "incentive" to get them franking ...the god of profit has a hard on , heh .... or a hard had .!.. heh

Be quite interested to see what the test results will be , and its social and political impact within the localities fracked .

The church strettons a fairly biggie...heh

Its not the resulting stress relief , within the bedrock, as the quakes are fairly minor ,but rather hydrostatic relief within the so called " brine" perhaps.?
..! be like slicing a hot water bottle with a Stanley knife, potentially straight up ,or whichever direction ,even through the overlying impermeable's.
The fault does not even have to be active for the gouge to act like a pipe, fault gouge can range from clays to breccias and will have different permeability values than the surrounding strata.

The reason why our coal is of high quality is due to the fact that our coal measures have undergone significant pressure and temperature variations after deposition..... This inevitably means folding and faulting of the beds ,above and below, the reason why we have big spoil heaps around the coal mines, is not just due to digging down to the seams, but also due vertical or lateral displacement across a fault. The seam will suddenly end, and the miners would have to dig a considerable distance up/down or around to reacquire the seam. Look at a geological map of the fracking areas, they are riddled with faults, there is no uniform overlying impermeable cap rock...

This is all so utterly random,unknown, and outside of control or accurate monitoring....once the fracking chemicals are down there.... Roll the dice, and hope it doesn't come up deep six. Just gas....

Edited by user 18 December 2012 02:00:19(UTC)  | Reason: addition because insomnia has struck....again