Hydraulic fracturing(fracking) is a technique for obtaining natural gas and oil in tight geologic structures.
FREMONT, CA: Hydraulic fracturing is an oil and gas generation technique utilized in tight geologic formations that includes horizontal directional drilling of wells and water, sand and chemicals at acute pressure to fracture rock and release hydrocarbons.
Hydraulic fracturing(fracking) is a technique for accessing natural gas and oil in tight geologic structures. The process includes the horizontal directional drilling of wells and using water, sand and chemicals at acute pressure to fracture rock and liberate hydrocarbons.
The hydraulic fracturing procedure can be classified into the following four steps:
- A well is bored vertically to the required depth, then rotates at an angle and proceeds horizontally for many thousand feet into the formation that is believed to include the trapped natural gas or oil. A combination of water, sand, and chemicals are pumped into the well at high pressure to form fissures in the shale rock, which raise permeability and enable the hydrocarbons to escape.
- Natural gas or oil is discharged through the fissures and is pulled back up the well to the surface.
- Wastewater (flow back water) returns to the surface after fracking.
- The natural gas or oil is gathered at the surface and is processed, purified, and shipped to the market.
Water and sand constitute 98 to 99.5% of the fluid utilized in hydraulic fracturing. Moreover, chemical additives are employed, but the exact formulation varies based on the well.
Because of the drop in the costs of fracking and betterment in the production procedure, oil and natural gas that were earlier unrecoverable are nowadays accessible. This has caused an increase in oil and gas supply in the world market and has meant higher energy independence for countries such as the United States, which can now access ample resources.
The growth of fracking has been controversial because of environmental problems. The process generally needs 11 million liters of water per well, up to 100 times more than conventional extraction methods. This deviates significantly depending on the geologic properties of the well.
Other environmental problems incorporate contamination of groundwater, shortage of fresh water, and surface contamination in the drilling process. There are also interests linking fracking to improved seismic activity.
