Fracking begins in China’s most dangerous earthquake zone

Sichuan quake of 2008 killed 70,000 people.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and China National Petroleum have begun “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing operations in the Longmenshan mountain range in Sichuan province.

China hopes to increase its annual shale gas production to 6.5 billion cubic meters by 2015. Its reserves are estimated at some 1,115 trillion cubic feet, said the US Energy Information Administration, compared to the estimated 665 trillion gas reserves in the USA.

Shell plans to invest US$1 billion per year in China’s shale gas industry. Its goal is to increase global output to 4 million barrels of oil and gas by 2017-2018 from the current level of 3.3 million.

Critics said drilling for oil in Longmenshan could increase tremors in the already highly-sensitive area. Fracking is invasive and is believed by many to be a direct earthquake instigator.

Extraction by fracking means pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals into the ground. This creates excess hydro waste that over time causes tectonic stress.

Human-induced earthquakes would be controversial in a region which experienced one of the deadliest earthquakes in China’s history. The 2008 earthquake killed nearly 70,000, including 5,335 school children in Wenchuan, Sichuan.