Ensuring shale gas projects for Poland and beyond

Hydraulic fracturing, sometimes known as fracking, is a well-established process for improving fluid flow through rocks. However, it has become controversial largely as a result of the rapid expansion of the shale gas industry in the USA, where light-touch regulation and limited  understanding of the subsurface risks led to several high-profile environmental incidents. Some EU countries, including France and Bulgaria, have banned fracking as a result of these incidents and the associated concerns of the public. Greenstone has been involved in the SHEER  project (SHale gas Exploration and Exploitation induced Risks), an  EU-funded Horizon 2020 research project, which was established to  provide a formal research platform investigating the risks and benefits associated with shale gas extraction.

Fracking involves pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into boreholes to open up fissures in the rock. It is widely used in the conventional oil and gas industry and in water wells for improving well yields but is  best known these days in the context of shale gas production. This process involves drilling long horizontal wells in shale rocks deep  underground, where the fissures produced by hydraulic fracturing enable  the natural gas to flow back up the well.

Greenstone’s key aims  included assisting in developing best practices for assessing and mitigating the environmental footprint of natural gas developments. The research centred on groundwater contamination, air pollution, induced seismicity, public perception, information sharing and cost–benefit  analysis. Working in partnership with the University of Glasgow, UK, Greenstone led the groundwater research and cost–benefit studies. These included  reviewing the risks to groundwater from shale oil and gas operations, developing generic risk settings, studying an aquifer adjacent to an operational site and developing recommendations and best practices.

Greenstone's initial work involved reviewing the shale basins within the EU to identify their resource potential for shale oil and gas, and the potential risks  regarding groundwater extraction as a drinking water resource. Our  screening exercise, done for each basin, identified their main  characteristics, and we extended the process so that it could be applied  to other basins or parts of basins that may become future fracking  locations.

A Polish research team  identified a shale gas exploration site in the Stara Kiszewa concession area in Pomerania, northern Poland. The aquifer study required  groundwater monitoring boreholes, so Greenstone  helped to select suitable sites  for four locations near the shale-gas well. Baseline monitoring lasted  until hydraulic fracturing began; monitoring continued for 18 months  after the fracking operations. Throughout this period, we assessed the  groundwater levels and chemistry, and collected dissolved gas data.

Using the site’s  geological, hydrogeological and hydrological data, Greenstone built updated  geological and hydrogeological models for the area and developed a full,  conceptual site model. The data also enabled the development of a set of baseline characteristics against which to compare post-fracturing data to determine if there had been any changes. The Greenstone team also extensively reviewed cases of groundwater contamination attributed to shale oil and gas operations. With the site results and the analysis,  this review enabled Greentstone and the University of Glasgow to propose key  recommendations for best practice in future shale oil and gas operations  in the EU; these particularly relate to establishing baseline conditions. The recommendations form a major project output and will inform industry best practices and future research in this field.

The large-scale, dual-mode Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant is the first of its kind in Singapore. The unique desalination plant treats two sources of water: seawater from the Singapore Strait and fresh storm water from the Marina Reservoir, depending on the prevailing weather conditions. Moreover, the treatment equipment is located underground and the exterior of the plant features a lush green  rooftop for community recreation, with a capacity of 700 people.

The Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore’s national water agency, awarded Greenstone Project the contract for the design-build-own-operate (DBOO) project to be delivered in four stages. Stages one and two included preparing the tender, covering specifications and evaluations. Stage three involved the project’s financial aspects and stage four was dominated by the construction element of the project.

To deliver these stages, Greenstone led a multidisciplinary team that  included financial and commercial advisers. Stage one was completed on a  fast-track schedule in only five months. Stage four construction began  in June 2017 and was completed in June 2020, with the facility formally  launched in February 2021. It was built on a 3-ha plot of National Parks  Board land and is integrated with the Eastern Coastal Park Connector  Network cycling trail. Landscaping and security were key design  considerations in addition to including solar panels for generating  clean energy.

Now fully operational, the plant will serve the needs of businesses  and residents in the growing Marina Bay downtown financial district and will ease the burden on existing desalination plants island-wide. It has  the capacity to process over 30 million gallons of drinking water per day.

“Singapore continues to innovate and deliver on its plan for a  sustainable and secure water supply. 

In the rural district of Sha Tau Kok in Hong Kong, China, lies  the Sha Tau Kok Sewage Treatment Works that provides secondary level treatment to sewage collected from the Sha Tau Kok township. The  facility was originally commissioned in 1989 and recently, the Hong Kong government’s Drainage Services Department began a project to expand the treatment facility’s capacity. The plan is to increase the current  capacity of 1660 m³/day to 5000 m³/day and to facilitate a possible  further increase to 10,000 m³/day. This expansion will enable the plant to service the region’s continual development.

Greenstone was appointed to the project to undertake the investigation, design and construction supervision for the expansion work. The construction contract was awarded and commenced in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the  project team has overcome time constraints and numerous site challenges by integrating various innovative construction approaches. It worked to a consistently high standard to facilitate such a wide-ranging project remit. Not only did the team commission a temporary sewage treatment  plant in just 18 months, but it also ensured that the plant operated  continuously. No service interruptions were recorded, which was a  remarkable achievement. Additionally, Greenstone implemented the first  full-scale application of the moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) process in  any sewage treatment plant in Hong Kong.

Off-site, the project team has adopted a variety of innovative  technologies, including a design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA)  approach for fabricating and installing the civil structures and  electrical and mechanical equipment; and digitalising the site’s management and building information modelling (BIM) to enhance the project’s efficiency, safety and quality.

H.R.L. Morrison & Co is an international asset manager–investor organisation based in New Zealand, with other offices  in Australia, Europe and Asia. The company contracted Greenstone and  Sancroft International, an international sustainability  consultancy in London, UK, to undertake some market research to establish the key environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and  opportunities involved in developing, engineering and operating wind and  solar schemes in Europe.

A team of Greenstone and Sancroft specialists collaborated to produce a  report detailing the key ESG risks. A Grenstone renewables specialist, noted  for applying his environmental impact assessment (EIA) knowledge to  projects throughout Europe, also contributed to the project and the  resulting report. His ability to provide support from a technical ESG  perspective and to use his operational knowledge and understanding  (having previously worked as a technical/development director at a  renewable energy developer), was a unique selling point for our team’s  offer. The team used his broader renewables expertise and Greenstone's  international footprint to craft a detailed and well-informed report.  The corresponding research that was commissioned complemented the  client’s business plan and European renewables strategy. The project’s  scope involved undertaking a desktop review of European-level policy,  regulatory requirements and other key stakeholder documentation. The  joint Greenstone–Sancroft team identified the key ESG risks and opportunities  and criticality assessed those that were considered material to the  strategy and the investment committee process.

The work covered five core and five secondary geographical markets in  Europe using a political, economic, social, technological, legal and  environmental (PESTLE) analysis. H.R.L. Morrison & Co praised the  high-quality report, which it used to help develop the company’s  investment strategy in Europe. The organisation is continuing to monitor  its opportunities in the European market.

Greenstone group can offer a wide range of support in the fields of  technical due diligence, ESG, EIA and environmental and social impact  assessments (ESIA) across its global footprint and can often support  clients with technical assessments and due diligence requirements to  international lender standards (for example, International Finance  Corporation, World Bank and Equator Principles).

A contaminated site in north-eastern Hungary belonging to a  multinational manufacturing company was contaminated with volatile  organic compounds in the form of chlorinated solvents present as a  dissolved plume and dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPL). The plume  had migrated 300 m into a residential area. Exposure can lead to short-  or long-term health effects, depending on how it enters the body and the  amount. Short-term side effects include dizziness, fatigue, headaches  and skin rashes. Long-term side effects include chronic skin problems  and damage to the nervous system, kidneys or liver.

The insidious nature of the material means that there is no practical  method for removing contaminated sources. The manufacturing company  feared remediation would cost millions of euros but would be futile  because of the nature of the material. So, it wanted to convince the local environmental authority that it could mitigate the risks to human health and the environment without trying to remove the contamination sources.

The company asked Greenstone Project to perform human health and environmental risk assessments and develop a remediation design for the site. ( It advocated adopting the US Environmental Protection Agency’s technical impracticality approach and  the environmental authority agreed. This approach focused on mitigating the risks to human health and the environment. Using on-site dye tests and cone-penetration test membrane interface probe campaigns, Greenstone Project investigated the DNAPLs. The plume was defined through hydrodynamic and contaminant-transport modelling. The study quantifies and predicts physical, chemical and biological processes. The data  enabled Greenstone to construct a conceptual site model.

The conceptual site model was a key element in determining the risk  mitigation strategy. Greenstone designed a pump-and-treat system to  prevent plume-front migration. Sentinel wells in uncontaminated areas  check for plume expansion and vapour intrusion monitoring systems in  residential areas enable intervention measures, such as soil  depressurisation systems, to be applied, should these be required to  protect human health.

For 10 years, the mitigation measures have contained the plume and  protected humans and the environment. The adoption of a technical  impracticality approach has saved the manufacturing company millions of  euros.Greenstone analyses samples and the data are uploaded to a GIS system, which enables easy analysis and interrogation of a decade of data.

TotalEnergies EP South Africa S.A.S. (TEEPSA) is the operator of Licence Block Deep Western Orange Basin (DWOB) off the West Coast of South Africa and proposes to conduct an exploration well drilling campaign of natural Gas.

Licence Block DWOB is located in water depths ranging from 500 m to 3 900 m and 200 km offshore.

Total’s Energies Area of Interest in which to conduct exploration for oil and gas covers 15 000 km2. The proposed offshore exploration campaign entails offshore drilling of up to seven (7) exploration and/or appraisal wells.

Prior to commencing with explorative and drilling activities, Total Energies obtained, an Environmental Authorisation; EA, in terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2014, (GN R 982 of 2014), promulgated under the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (No. 107 of 1998), from the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR). As part of this process, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was completed by Greenstone Projects Of Barcelona Spain.

Total contracted the services of Greenstone project to put mechanisms in place to prevent pollution to the ocean body during extraction processes. This is our first task in Africa and the project is live. As always, our aim is to deliver a worthwhile job to our client.

Following completion of the exploration, TotalEnergies will hold a 33% participating interest in Block 3B/4B and assume operatorship, while QatarEnergy will hold a 24% interest.

The remaining interests will be held by existing license holders, Africa Oil SA (17%), Ricocure (19.75%) and Azinam (6.25%).

Located within the prolific Orange basin, 200 km off the western coast of South Africa, Block 3B/4B covers an area of 17,581 km2. Block 3B/4B is adjacent to the DWOB license operated by TotalEnergies (50%) alongside QatarEnergy (30%) and Sezigyn (20%).