Alaska eyes stricter fracking rules

BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil are considering LNG exports to monetise North Slope gas.

Regulations: proposed Alaska fracking rules would require disclosures

Tradewinds

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News Wires

 22 February 2013 18:16 GMT

Companies that use hydraulic fracturing to extract oil or gas in Alaska would have to disclose the chemicals they pump into the ground, notify everyone nearby and test water quality before and after they do it under new rules proposed by state regulators.

The rules are being considered by the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission even though the state does not yet have any of the shale oil or gas production that have proven controversial elsewhere in the nation.

Fracturing technology has been used for decades in Alaska, but without the complications associated with the shale boom farther south, said commission member Cathy Foerster, according to a Reuters report.

Alaska's oil and gas is produced entirely from conventional rock formations, which are porous and permeable. And with the North Slope's permafrost, remoteness from residential areas…

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