水力壓裂法或將釋放1400億桶石油
Fracking, which is blamed by some for causing earthquakes in the US, could unlock nearly 140bn barrels of global oil supplies — equivalent to Russia’s known reserves, says a study.
一項研究表明，被一些人指責在美國誘發地震的水力壓裂法（fracking，又稱Hydraulic fracturing）或將使全球石油供應量增加近1400億桶，相當於俄羅斯已知石油儲量。Countries such as Iran, Russia, Mexico and China stand to gain most from exploiting techniques used by modern-day wildcatters in America’s shale revolution to breathe life into their ageing oil and gasfields, according to analysis by IHS, the research company.
調研公司IHS的分析認爲，伊朗、俄羅斯、墨西哥和中國等國家將是這項技術的最大受益者，利用美國頁岩革命中當代鑽探公司採用的這項技術，這些國家將能使它們老化的油氣田恢復生機。
Two-thirds of the extra recoverable oil would come from the Middle East and Latin America, it has estimated.
該研究預測，額外可開採石油中的三分之二將來自中東和拉美地區。
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into rocks deep underground to open up tiny fissures, allowing oil and gas to flow more freely to the wellhead. Horizontal drilling — sinking a well a mile or more straight down, then a mile or more sideways — has made it possible to expose a greater area of resource-bearing rock.
水力壓裂法的原理是通過高壓將摻入沙和化學物質的水注入地底深處的岩層，打開細小的裂縫，使石油和天然氣能夠更自由地流到鑽井口。水平鑽井技術(Horizontal drilling)——先垂直向下鑽井1英里或更深，然後向水平方向鑽探1英里或更遠——能使更多蘊含資源的岩層區域得到開採。These processes have contributed to a boom in US output, with companies using technological advances to cut costs and improve productivity. But it is less widely used elsewhere, in part due to environmental opposition but also the need for specialist equipment.
這些方法促進了美國油氣產量的大幅增長。利用技術進步，企業削減了成本，提高了生產率。但水力壓裂技術在其他地方並未得到廣泛使用，部分原因是遭到環保人士反對，同時也是因爲使用這項技術需要專門的設備。In the UK, more densely populated than the US, drillers hoping to frack shale gas reserves have met public wariness amid concern over the risk of minor earth tremors — which can be triggered by injecting waste water back underground — and the noise and disruption from transporting materials to and from sites.
在人口比美國稠密的英國，希望使用水力壓裂法開採頁岩氣的鑽探公司引起了公衆的警惕。人們擔心這項技術有誘發輕微地震的風險（重新將廢水注入地下的做法可能引發這一現象），此外從開採地點來往運輸材料會造成噪音和干擾。IHS says as much as 141bn barrels could be unlocked from known fields outside North America, with 135bn of these in plays likely to require fracking. As much as 40bn of these barrels lie in Iran, where the government is hoping to attract foreign investment if and when sanctions are lifted following a deal on its nuclear ambitions. Mexico, which is opening its energy sector to foreign investment, follows with 14bn of potentially recoverable barrels, Russia with 12bn and China 6bn.
IHS稱，北美洲以外的已知油田還可以開採多達1410億桶原油，其中1350億桶可能需要用水力壓裂法開採。其中伊朗可以額外開採400億桶石油，該國政府目前希望，在其與國際社會達成核協議後，一旦制裁解除，將能吸引來外國投資。正向外資開放能源行業的墨西哥排在其後，已知油田擁有140億桶潛在的可採石油，俄羅斯擁有120億桶，中國擁有60億桶。IHS has examined more than 170 mature oil plays worldwide and three fields in France, Tunisia and China where operators have revived old assets with new technologies. In France, where fracking is not allowed, the Saint Martin de Bossenay field near Paris, abandoned in 1996, has been redeveloped with horizontal drilling, boosting its rate of oil recovery from 40 to 44 per cent and swelling its reserves by 1m barrels, or about 10 per cent.
IHS對世界各地逾170家成熟石油企業以及法國、突尼斯和中國三個利用新技術進行重新開採的舊油田進行了調查。法國禁止使用水力壓裂法，於1996年被廢棄的巴黎郊區Saint Martin de Bossenay油田已經採用水平鑽探技術重新開採，採油速度從40%上升至44%，石油儲量增加了100萬桶，相當於擴大了約10%。According to IHS, the fields that could benefit from the new technologies are relatively evenly distributed across the world. The other top 10 countries, each with more than 4bn in additional resources, are the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Libya and Venezuela.
據IHS調查，可受益於新技術的油田相對均勻地分佈在世界各地。除了伊朗、俄羅斯、墨西哥和中國，排在前十的其他國家爲阿聯酋、科威特、哈薩克斯坦、阿爾及利亞、利比亞以及委內瑞拉，每個國家額外可開採的石油資源都在40億桶以上。
