What Is Hydraulic Fracturing?
Hydraulic Fracturing is a technical procedure used to release petroleum, shale gas, tight gas, coal seam gas or other substances from underground: primarily natural gasses. Through wellbore drilling a high-pressured mixture of water, sand and chemicals is infused into the ground in order to create fractures in the underground rock formations. When the infusion reaches the deep shale rock formations (usually 6 to 7 thousand feet beneath the surface) a propagation within the shale layers occurs which forces oil and gas to migrate towards the surface. The extraction of shale gas provides alternative energy source opposed to our already known hydrocarbon-based energy sources such as oil or coal. Hydraulic Fracturing is also commonly referred to as "hydrofracking" or just "fracking".
Got two minutes?- this is how it looks like.
Got two minutes?- this is how it looks like.
The History of Hydraulic Fracturing?
On March 17, 1949, the first two commercial drillings were performed by the American oil company: Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company. Since the drillings in 1949 in Stephens County, Oklahoma and Archer County, Texas, nearly a million oil and gas wells were stimulated by Hydraulic Fracturing. Later the procedure of Hydraulic Fracturing was practiced in the Soviet Union (1952) and Western Europe (1977-1985). Drillings, however, were performed allover the world from Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, France and Northern Africa among others.
In 1997 the extraction of shale gas from Hydraulic Fracturing was made economically rentable by upgrading the technical systems. From 1997 the technique also gained wider commercial attention, which formed the foundation for the modern technique we know today.
In 1997 the extraction of shale gas from Hydraulic Fracturing was made economically rentable by upgrading the technical systems. From 1997 the technique also gained wider commercial attention, which formed the foundation for the modern technique we know today.
Globalized Fracking
Hydraulic Fracturing is practiced worldwide and have since the 1940s expanded across the globe - from the United States of America to China. Take a look a the map to the left by clicking it.
Source: http://www.eia.gov/
Source: http://www.eia.gov/
To read more about this webpage and the background for this student research project entitled "Hydraulic Fracturing- A Controversy in the Making", click "about this webside". If more interested in the controversy, "Frack it!", and click "Controversy".