Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Hydraulic fracturing [a] is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "fracking fluid" (primarily water, containing sand or other proppants suspended with the aid of thickening agents) into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum ...
Hydraulic fracturing is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer by pressurized fluid. Induced hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking, commonly known as fracking, is a technique used to release petroleum, natural gas (including shale gas, tight gas and coal seam gas), or other substances for extraction, particularly from unconventional reservoirs. [1]
Hydraulic fracturing is commonly used in some coalbed methane areas, such as the Black Warrior Basin and the Raton Basin, but not in others, such as the Powder River Basin, depending on the local geology. Injected volumes tend to be much smaller than those of either tight gas wells or shale gas wells; a 2004 EPA study found a median injected ...
The main tool used by this approach is risk assessment. A risk assessment method, based on experimenting and assessing risk ex-post, once the technology is in place. In the context of hydraulic fracturing, it means that drilling permits are issued and exploitation conducted before the potential risks on the environment and human health are known.
In the US, about 750 compounds have been listed as additives for hydraulic fracturing, also known as ingredients of pressurized fracking fluid, [9] in an industry report to the US Congress in 2011 [10] [11] The following is a partial list of the chemical constituents in additives that are used or may have been used in fracturing operations. [12]
Hydraulic fracturing is a driver of climate change. [4] [29] However, whether natural gas produced by hydraulic fracturing causes higher well-to-burner emissions than gas produced from conventional wells is a matter of contention. Some studies have found that hydraulic fracturing has higher emissions due to methane released during completing ...
Drilling and hydraulic fracturing have made the United States a major crude oil exporter as of 2019, [11] but leakage of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, has dramatically increased. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Increased oil and gas production from the decade-long fracking boom has led to lower prices for consumers, with near-record lows of the share of ...
The agency stated that it did not consider hydraulic fracturing to be an endangerment to underground drinking water sources. [22] The policy was overturned in 1997 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which ruled that "hydraulic fracturing activities constitute underground injection according to Section C of the SDWA ...