CAPP Issues Voluntary Fracking Operating Practices

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, an industry group representing upstream oil and natural gas producers in Canada, announced on Monday that it had issued six voluntary operating practices for its members conducting fracking operations.

The aim of the guidelines, according to CAPP, is to ensure protection of water resources and to improve transparency.  The development of operating practices arises out of a previous initiative by CAPP to develop guiding principles for fracking.

Operating practices are set out which require:

• the disclosure of the components of fracking fluids
• the development of risk management plans for fracking fluid additives
• the conduct of baseline water monitoring, including domestic well sampling and participating in regional groundwater monitoring initiatives
• processes for wellbore construction which will ensure the integrity of wellbores, and the development of contingency plans in the event of a loss of wellbore integrity
• the assessment, measurement and mon and monitoring of surface water sources
• the identification, evaluation and mitigation of risks associated with the transport, handling, storage and disposal of fracking fluids

Full copies of each of the operating practices can be found here. 

 CAPP's move comes at the same time as the federal expert panel and the Environment Canada panel initiated by Environment Minister Peter Kent continue their work investigating the environmental impact of fracking technology continue their respctive work.