Washington (Platts)--8Dec2010/606 pm EST/2306 GMT

Arkansas will begin requiring oil and natural gas producers that use hydraulic fracturing for their wells to disclose the composition of the fluids they use for fracking beginning January 15, the state's Oil and Gas Commission ruled late Tuesday afternoon in Little Rock.

While the new rules require disclosure of the makeup of fracking fluids on a well-by-well basis, producers won't have to disclose the actual chemical makeup of proprietary frack treatments, just the "relevant health, safety, and environmental data" that a standard Material Safety Data Sheet requires, according to a draft of the rule.

Previously, Arkansas -- home to the Fayetteville Shale, which stretches across most of the northern half of the state -- had no rules regarding the disclosure of components of fracking fluid.

While not required to reveal the exact chemical makeup of certain frack additives, the new rule requires they be categorized by type: such as acid, biocide or friction reducer. The new rule also requires drillers to disclose the exact concentration of each compound in the fracking mixture.

Additionally, the new rules also require fracking pressures to be no more than 80% of the rated capacity of the well bore and well bores be cased 100 feet below any fresh water aquifer. If a second fresh water source is discovered while the well is being drilled, Arkansas will now require that the bore be re-cemented to another 100 feet below the new fresh water source.

The data on fracking fluids and well designs will be available on AOGC's website for public viewing.

"The chemicals will be will be made available on a well-by-well basis, so if there's a fear that a well has been contaminated, you can look on this list and see what chemicals were used on the gas well near your house and test for them," Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission Director Larry Bengal told the Arkansas Times Tuesday. "That's the whole purpose."

Arkansas joins Wyoming as the only states that require frack fluid disclosures on a well-by-well basis. Wyoming's rules, which also protect the trade secrets behind proprietary compounds, went into effect September 15.

Some drillers in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale, such as Fort Worth-based Range Resources and Pittsburgh-based Equitable Resources, have begun voluntarily detailing the makeup of their frack fluids for each new well on company websites, listing proprietary compounds by their brand names.

--Bill Holland, bill_holland@platts.com

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