About Hydraulic Fracturing Oil and Gas
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, is a proven technological advancement which allows natural gas and oil producers to safely recover natural gas and oil from deep shale formations. This discovery has the potential to not only dramatically reduce our reliance on foreign fuel imports, but also to significantly reduce our national carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and accelerate our transition to a carbon-light environment. Simply put, deep shale gas and oil formation development is critical to America's energy needs and economic renewal.Experts have known for years that natural gas and oil deposits existed in deep shale formations, but until recently the vast quantities of natural gas and oil in these formations were not thought to be recoverable. Today, through the use of hydraulic fracturing, combined with sophisticated horizontal drilling, extraordinary amounts of deep shale natural gas and oil from across the United States are being safely produced.
Hydraulic fracturing has been used by the natural gas and oil industry since the 1940s and has become a key element of natural gas development worldwide. In fact, regardless of whether they are vertical or horizontal wells, this process is used in nearly all natural gas and oil wells drilled in the U.S. today. Properly conducted modern hydraulic fracturing is a safe, sophisticated, highly engineered and controlled procedure.
http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/publications/EPreports/Shale_Gas_Primer_2009.pdf.
