Lecture: Shale Gas and Fracking

Speaker: Roy Hartley, Consultant Petroleum Engineer, Bath Geological Society

Entry Fee

Members: Free

Visitors: £5.00

Date and Time

19:30 -

Location

Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16-18 Queen Square, Bath BA1 2HN


Lecture Description

Shale gas and fracking have appeared regularly in the news in the UK in the last two years. Two extreme views are portrayed - one that development of the UK’s shale gas will make the country self sufficient with all the economic benefits that implies - the other is that fracking will pollute our water sources, increase greenhouse gas emissions and have other detrimental effects. This view was first highlighted in the film Gaslands premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Then in 2011 fracking hit the headlines in the UK when the Cuadrilla company’s operations near Blackpool were judged to have caused two very small earthquakes (magnitudes 2.3 and 1.5).

Roy Hartley graduated as a petroleum engineer from Imperial College in 1969. He witnessed his first frac job in the same year. He has worked in c. 30 countries and been involved in fracking in the majority of them. From 1981 to 1984 he was Head of Shell’s Stimulation Research Group. In this talk he aims to present an unbiased view of the development of shale gas and explain what happens in drilling and fracking and what its environmental impact might be.


Attending via Zoom

This is a hybrid meeting: you can attend in person or join online via Zoom.

Bath Geological Society Members: Free of charge. Joining instructions and the Zoom link are sent to members by email prior to the lecture.

Visitors & Non-Members: (including members of the Geologists' Association and affiliated societies) Please book via Eventbrite to receive Zoom access (see the Entry Fee details above).

How to join: Click the Zoom link provided in your email or Eventbrite confirmation. You can join using the Zoom desktop or mobile app, or directly via your web browser without installing any software. The virtual waiting room opens approximately 15 minutes before the scheduled start time, and attendees will be admitted before the talk commences.

For any queries about joining online, please contact [email protected].



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