Environmental Impact Study Of Shale Gas Exploration And Development In Southern Sichuan

South Sichuan area is short for southeast Sichuan Basin and covers around 4.8×104km2.With a population about 2.1×107,it includes Luzhou city, Yibin city,Zigong city, Neijiang city and the south part of Leshan city. Most of South Sichuan area is located in the Sichuan basin,while a handful of edge regions belong to the Yun-Gui Plateau. Landform is dominated by hills.It shares a subtropical humid climate with abundant precipitation through the year.Several drainages like Yangze River and Min River,flow through or generated from this area.South Sichuan area is rich in animals and plants resources,including a variety of species belonging to the national level one or two protected species.The interdependence of animals and plants with natural environment also makes the ecology vulnerable.Sichuan Basin is the main battlefield of domestic shale gas development and South Sichuan area is the first area experiencing shale gas exploration and development.Its shale gas production layers are as follows:the lower Cambrian Qiongzhusi formation,Austrian Ordovician Wufeng Formation and the Lower Silurian leave Longmaxi formation. Proved resources 2.22×109m3 with a predicted growth of 2.6×109m3 each year.Since 12th Five-Year the national plan of the implementation of energy reform,the government make more efforts on the shale gas industry.Weiyuan and Changning were listed as national shale gas demonstration area in 2012.However,with the rapid development of shale gas industry in south Sichuan area,the environmental issue due to shale gas exploration and production draws more public attentions.The exploration and production of shale gas incur many environmental problem covering air,water and sound pollution around the well location.The infrastructure establishment of well site damages habitat of human and other creatures. With a radius of several kilometers of area suffers noise generated by huge machinery.Hydraulic fracture techniques consumes much water.The fracture fluid containing many heavy mental element coming back to ground pollute waterbody and soil without proper process.Greenhouse gas like methane coming out with Anti drainage pipeline will cause negative impact on air. In this paper,it is analyzed that factors having potential impact on environment in the exploration and development like well site selection,drilling,cementing,completion,fracturing and gas collecting.Field research of three drilling platforms and experimental data from site samples are considered.Referring to domestic and international laws and regulations,every possible factors having a negative impact on environment during the shale gas exploration and development is analyzed,a possible solution is also offered.