Synopsis

This report analyzes water availability across all potentially commercial shale resources worldwide.

它还表明，除南极以外的每个大陆的水资源开发可能会限制其页岩资源的开发。

Key Findings

Shale resources are unevenly distributed worldwide and, for the most part, not located where freshwater is abundant. For example, China, Mexico, and South Africa have some of the largest technically recoverable shale gas resources (based on estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration), but face high to extremely high water stress where the shale is located.

This report reveals that lack of water availability could curtail shale development in many places around the world:

  • 38 percent of shale resources are in areas that are either arid or under high to extremely high levels of water stress;

  • 19 percent are in areas of high or extremely high seasonal variability; and

  • 15 percent are in locations exposed to high or extremely high drought severity.

此外，在这些页岩表演中，有3.86亿人生活在土地上，在30％的页岩戏剧中，灌溉农业是最大的用户。因此，钻孔和液压压裂通常与对淡水的其他需求竞争，这可能会导致与其他用水使用者发生冲突。在高基线水压力的地区尤其如此，在农业，市政或工业目的中，已经撤出了40％以上可用的水供应。

表ES2显示了使用当前可用技术的20个具有最大的页岩气或最紧密的石油资源的国家（ES2）（下载the executive summary here).

  • Eight of the top 20 countries with the largest shale gas resources face arid conditions or high to extremely high baseline water stress where the shale resources are located; this includes China, Algeria, Mexico, South Africa, Libya, Pakistan, Egypt, and India.

  • Eight of the top 20 countries with the largest tight oil resources face arid conditions or high to extremely high baseline water stress where the shale resources are located; this includes China, Libya, Mexico, Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, India, and Mongolia.

Hydrological conditions vary spatially and seasonally across shale plays, with variation among plays, within plays, and throughout the year. This variation makes companies’ ability to meet the freshwater demands for hydraulic fracturing and drilling highly unpredictable, and estimates based on previous experience not always accurate in new shale formations. This high level of uncertainty can lead to business risks for companies exploring new areas for development. Furthermore, public concern over increased competition and impacts on freshwater availability can threaten a company’s social license to operate and lead to changes in government regulations that could impact both short- and long-term investments.

WRI’s findings indicate that companies developing shale resources internationally are likely to face serious challenges to accessing freshwater in many parts of the world. These challenges highlight a strong business case for strategic company engagement in sustainable water management at local and regional levels. They also point to a need for companies to work with governments and other sectors to minimize environmental impacts and water resources depletion.

  • 38 percentof the world’s shale resources face high to extremely high water stress or arid conditions.

  • 3.86亿people live on land above shale plays—increased competition for water and public concern over hydraulic fracturing is more likely in densely populated areas.

  • 在中国，61 percentof shale resources face high water stress or arid conditions.

  • 在阿根廷，72 percentof shale resources face low to medium water stress.

  • In the United Kingdom,34 percentof shale plays face high water stress or arid conditions.

Executive Summary

Limited availability of freshwater could become a stumbling block for rapid development of shale resources through hydraulic fracturing. Using information from the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas, WRI provides the first global and country-specific resource to help stakeholders evaluate freshwater availability across shale plays worldwide.

Innovation in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques is driving the rapid development of shale resources (which include shale gas, natural gas liquids, and tight oil) across the United States and Canada. Already, known shale deposits worldwide have significantly increased the volume of the world’s natural gas and oil resources. Governments from Argentina and the United Kingdom, to Mexico and China, have started to explore the commercial viability of their shale reserves.

The potential for expansion is huge: known shale gas deposits worldwide add 47 percent to the global technically recoverable natural gas resources, and underground stores of tight oil add 11 percent to the world’s technically recoverable oil.

But as countries escalate their shale exploration, limited availability of freshwater could become a stumbling block. Extracting shale resources requires large amounts of water for drilling and hydraulic fracturing. In most cases, these demands are met by freshwater, making companies developing shale significant users and managers of water at local and regional levels, often in competition with farms, households, and other industries.

尽管专家们认为，关键的环境风险和影响与开发页岩相关，但已经证明了表面和地下水的特定风险和影响。和全球页岩气开发：水的可用性和企业风险, the World Resources Institute (WRI) fills this gap, providing the first publicly available, global and country-specific analysis to help evaluate freshwater availability across shale resources worldwide. Using geospatial analysis to combine indicators from WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and other sources with the locations of shale resources globally from West Virginia University and the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the report:

  • Identifies locations most in need of government oversight and robust corporate policies to properly manage freshwater availability in the context of shale development; and

  • Informs companies of potential business risks associated with freshwater availability, and builds the case for corporate water stewardship and early source water assessment.

除了从全球角度检查水的可用性和页岩资源开发（图ES1）外，该报告还分析了每个页岩播放中首次用水可用性（在页岩形成中可以商业地提取天然气和石油的前瞻性区域），为11国家：阿尔及利亚，阿根廷，澳大利亚，加拿大，中国，墨西哥，波兰，沙特阿拉伯，南非，英国和美国。WRI根据其技术可回收的页岩资源的规模（由美国能源信息管理局估计），当前的探索性和生产活动，未来发展的可能性以及行业，学术界和非政府组织（NOGGO）专家的反馈，选择了这些国家 /地区。。

建议

根据该报告的分析，WRI就政府，企业和民间社会如何在开发页岩资源的情况下如何继续评估和可持续管理淡水可用性提供了一系列实用建议。

1) Conduct water risk assessments to understand local water availability and reduce business risk.

1.1.公司可以评估与水有关的风险。公司应结合全球和资产级工具，公司应确定与水相关的业务风险，并优先考虑与监管机构，社区和行业互动以提高水安全的领域。

1.2.政府可以增加收集和监视供水信息的投资。强大的基线信息以及对未来供水和需求以及环境条件的估计可以帮助建立一个强大的共同知识基础，以告知有效的水政策以及基于科学的目标和目标。

2) Increase transparency and engage with local regulators, communities, and industry to minimize uncertainty.

2.1.Companies can increase corporate water disclosure. By disclosing and communicating their water use and management approach, companies can build trust with financial and river basin stakeholders as they investigate water risks and opportunities. Ongoing disclosure will reduce reputational risks.

2.2.Governments and companies can engage with local and regional industry, agriculture, and communities. Companies should closely collaborate with local government, industry, NGOs, and civil society to understand the hydrological conditions and regulatory frameworks within the river basin. This information allows for more accurate estimates of the cost, technology, and processes required to access water for shale development without displacing other users or degrading the environment.

3）确保足够的水治理以保证水安全并降低监管和声誉风必威官网亚洲体育险。

3.1.公司可以参与公共水政策。足够的水治理和环境保护标准，再必威官网亚洲体育加上可预测的实施和有效的执法，可以最大程度地减少环境退化，并确保公平的水分配和定价。稳定的监管环境使公司和投资者能够评估长期机会并最大程度地降低业务风险。

3.2.Governments and companies, through collective action, can develop source water protection and management plans. Governments and businesses in the early stages of developing shale resources have a unique opportunity to work collectively with key river basin stakeholders to develop source water protection and management plans that help reduce business risks; promote a shared water sourcing and recycling infrastructure; and improve the sustainable management of watersheds and aquifers.

4）最大程度地减少淡水使用并进行企业水管理，以减少对水的影响。

4.1。公司可以最大程度地减少淡水使用。使用公开可用的准则，公司可以评估其使用非污点来源的潜力，并建立用于投资技术以回收或再利用水，使用咸水或以其他方式大大减少淡水撤离的商业案例。

4.2。Companies can develop a water strategy and engage in corporate water stewardship. Companies should embed water management at the core of their business strategy to minimize exposure to risks and ensure long-term water availability for other users, the environment, and their own operations. Corporate water stewardship involves a progression of increasing improvements in water use and impact reductions across internal company operations and the rest of the value chain.

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