About Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas

 

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.

Hidden beneath the Rockies lies a big oil field! 2 trillion barrels

Hidden beneath the Rockies lies a big oil field! 2 trillion barrels

By yj draiman

Hidden beneath the Rockies lies a big oil field! 2 trillion barrels

Let us say it is true. How come everyone is not running to exploit it, like they exploit any other economic and financial benefit?

The other aspect is how much energy, and at what cost – financial and ecological, is it going to take to heat the oil shale up and extract the oil.

I suggest conserving resources; we should use renewable energy, such as Solar and Wind energy etc. to heat up the shale.

Another issue is they are waiting for oil to reach $200 per barrel so the government can reduce the deficit and outstanding loans.

I hope that is the truth and that there are no hidden agendas.

 Technological hurdles to extract oil from shale“Despite all the attempts to develop a shale oil industry in the United States over the past 100 years, the fact remains that no proven method exists for efficiently moving the oil from the rock. There are a number of candidate processes possible, but none has demonstrated a practical capability to produce oil.”Experts with field experience who are bullish on the prospects for America’s oil shale. But they recognize that, here and now, we are still not there yet technologically.There are a number of problems yet to be solved before US oil shale can be recovered on any type of meaningful scale, let alone a mass scale. And getting the extraction technology right is only one monkey wrench in the works with US oil shale. There are others.For example, there are questions of air quality regarding domestic oil shale operations. How badly would these operations pollute the air? Would the levels be acceptable? Shell isn’t sure.There are questions of water availability. During the extraction process, how much water would be required? Experts are not sure. An early “guess” is two to three barrels of water per barrel of shale. This could be a conservative estimate. Either way, will the massive amounts of water necessary for heavy-duty shale extraction even be available in the first place, given that the Colorado River Basin is already running low? You also need to account for the environmental and ecological damage and restoration to pre-drilling condition.

American technology and knowhow will find the answer – all you have to do is wave the dollar bill in front of corporate America and they will find the answer “by hook and by crook”. Then the executives, the shareholders and the politicians will laugh all the way to the bank.

YJ Draiman

Tags: energy independence, oil economics, oil exploration, Oil reserves, shale oil, yehuda draiman

This entry was posted on January 20, 2008 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Oil reserves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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1. miriamdraiman Says:
   January 31, 2008 at 4:48 am | Reply The energy non-crises
   The following are small excerpts from chapters in Mr. Willims book ‘The Energy Non-Crisis’
   CHAPTER 1 – The Great Oil Deception … There is no true energy crisis. There never has been an energy crisis . . . except as it has been produced by the Federal government for the purpose of controlling the American people. …
   CHAPTER 3 – Shut Down That Pipeline … My friend answered, “Well, Brother Lindsey, that’s one of the major cross-country pipelines carrying crude oil from the West to the East.” “Ah,” I answered, “That’s rather interesting. I’ve heard there’s a possibility of an energy crisis. I’m sure glad those pumps are running full speed ahead.” … That was in 1972. You will remember that 1973 was the first time we were told there was really an energy crisis. The East Coast was used as a test for that energy crisis, and there were long lines of people waiting, burning fuel while they waited in line for gas they couldn’t get. … Well, the man finally recognized that I was getting a little bit indignant and he said, “well, mister, if you really want to know the truth, the truth is the Federal government has ordered us to close this pipeline down.” The old Westerner went on and told how he stood up to the boss man, “Why man, I can hardly believe that. After all, we’ve got an energy crisis.” The boss man answered him, “Sir, we’re closing it down because we’ve been ordered to.” …
   CHAPTER 4 – An Important Visit by Senator Hugh Chance … What followed included some of the most astonishing answers I have ever heard in my life.