- Regulatory Nirvana for Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation
- B. Goldstein ; M. Malavazos ; A. Wickham ; M Jarosz ; D. Pepicelli ; Mi Webb ; D Wenham
- Book Title / Journal: Effective and Sustainable Hydraulic Fracturing - Chapter 11
- Year: 2013
- Mining
- Keywords: hydraulic fracture simulation ; regulatory nirvana
- Description
- Government are challenged to deploy trustworthy regulation to enable profitable and environmentally sustainable unconventional petroleum projects. A key activity under scrutiny
during the development of these projects is hydraulic fracture stimulation. Regulatory ‘Nirvana’ for unconventional projects and conventional projects alike entails:
• Pragmatic licence tenure;
• Regulatory certainty and efficiency without taint of capture;
• Regulators and licensees with trustworthy competence and capacity;
• Effective stakeholder consultation well-ahead of land access;
• Public access to details of significant risks and reliable research to backup risk management
strategies so the basis for regulation is contestable anytime, everywhere;
• Timely notice of entry with sufficient operational details to effectively inform stakeholders;
• Potentially affected people and organisations can object to land access - without support for
vexatious objections;
• Fair and expeditious dispute resolution processes;
• Fair compensation to affected land-users;
• Risks are reduced to low or as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) while also meeting community expectations for net outcomes;
• Licensees monitor and report on the efficacy of their risk management, and the regulator
probes same;
• Regulator can prevent and stop operations, require restitution, levy fines and cancel licences;
and
• Industry compliance records are public, so the efficacy of regulation is transparent.
These principles are deployed in South Australia where:
• 24 unconventional gas plays are being explored, each with giant gas potential;
• Hundreds of wells have been safely hydraulically fracture stimulated;
The introduction of new energy development technologies is inevitable, so regulatory Nir‐
vana requires adaptive learning so that the previously mentioned principles are maintained.
Expeditious, welcomed access to land for compatible, multiple uses is the metric for per‐
formance, and leading practice is based on the principle that trust is the most valuable lead factor and lag outcome in sustaining land access for resource exploration, development and production.
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