Hydraulic Fracturing: The Method for Producing Unconventional Natural Gas

Due to hydraulic fracturing, more natural gas or oil can be extracted due to the fissures created in the rock formation.

FREMONT, CA: Hydraulic fracturing induces fissures in the rock formation that enhance the flow of natural gas or oil, increasing the recoverable volume. Wells may be dug hundreds to thousands of feet vertically below the earth's surface and may contain horizontal or directional sections extending thousands of feet.

By pumping enormous fluids at high pressure down a wellbore and into the target rock structure, fractures are formed. Commonly, hydraulic fracturing fluid includes water, proppant, and chemical additives that open and widen rock formation fissures. These cracks may extend hundreds of feet beyond the wellbore. Proppants, such as sand, ceramic pellets, or other small, incompressible particles, keep newly-formed fractures open.

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Upon completion of the injection procedure, the internal pressure of the rock formation causes fluid to return to the surface through the wellbore. This fluid is referred to as "flow back" and "generated water" and may contain the injected chemicals and naturally occurring substances such as brines, metals, radionuclides, and hydrocarbons. Before treatment, disposal, or recycling, flowback and produced water are often kept on-site in tanks or pits. For removal, it is usually injected underground. In regions where this is not possible, it may be treated and reused or processed by a wastewater treatment facility before being released into surface water.

Production of "Unconventional" Natural Gas, Shale Gas Extraction, and Hydraulic Fracturing

In "unconventional" gas production, hydraulic fracturing is a technique utilized. "Unconventional" reservoirs can only generate gas cost-effectively through specialized stimulation techniques, such as hydraulic fracturing or other specialized recovery methods and technologies. Typically, this is because the gas is widely spread in the rock instead of being concentrated in an underground spot.

Unconventional gas extraction is relatively new. Production of coalbed methane began in the 1980s, while shale gas extraction is even more recent. The primary enabling technologies, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, have opened up new oil and gas exploitation locations, concentrating on natural gas reservoirs, including shale, coalbed, and tight sands.

Shale Gas Extraction: In the United States, shale rock formations have become a significant source of natural gas. Shale gas is available in numerous places in the contiguous United States, including those regions where oil or gas extraction has never happened.

Production of Coalbed Methane: Coal-bed methane production Coalbed methane (CBM) was initially recovered from coal mines to mitigate the explosive risk caused by methane gas in the mines. Today, methane is gathered and utilized as an energy source. Natural gas may require hydraulic fracturing to be extracted from deeper coal deposits.

Tight sands: Gas-bearing, fine-grained sandstones or carbonates with poor permeability constitute tight sands. In the absence of natural fissures, practically all tight sand reservoirs necessitate hydraulic fracturing to liberate gas.