Benzene and Natural Gas Production

Recently, there has been a lot of concern about the release of benzene in connection with natural gas production in the Barnett Shale. While the known carcinogen, benzene certainly is certainly one concern, it is not the only one for those concerned with urban gas drilling and production.

Although recent air studies generally rate the majority of natural gas facilities in the Barnett Shale as having emission levels below limits, there are enough examples of sites exceeding long term safe levels to give pause to those people down-wind and in close proximity. However, the good news is that because the data show so many sites with low emissions, and because we know what types of things cause excessive emissions, it should be relatively easy to fix the problems. The industry has begun to give the problem attention, and local and state government can draw on those best practices to implement reasonable rules that would drastically reduce the chances of a large emissions event, or chronic excursions beyond safe limits.

The topic at hand is one that tends toward misinformation, so we’ve created a seven page paper, attached here in PDF format, including lots of footnotes to reputable sources where the reader can learn more. We’ve tried to make the document understandable to a non-technical reader, while still leaving in enough technical information to back up the concepts presented.

Download "Benzene and Natural Gas Production" (PDF - 3.3 MB)

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