Do you roll or squeeze your toothpaste tube as it gets emptier? There are advocates for both methods of toothpaste retrieval, but all have the same end goal: to get as much toothpaste out of that tube before giving in, throwing it away, and making the trek to the store to buy more. But no matter how you squash it, we are always going to leave at least two days-worth of paste stuck in that tube—forever unreachable. Unless… Most avoid spending that $2.99 on a new tube for as long as they can.
Now imagine the new tube of toothpaste costs $5 million instead of $3.
We would invest in a toothpaste roller to get every last drop of it before finally investing in a new one.
This is the concept behind hydraulic fracturing, or what we refer to as “fracking” in this article. A technique that was once very expensive and not well-developed is now becoming an effective and efficient method to get the most out of oil and gas production.
In the mid-1800s, Fracking began when a few guys decided to throw some gun powder and explosives into a plugged well to see what would happen. Sounds like typical boys playing with explosives in the backyard, right? Well, they were actually on to something. The technique became more sophisticated (and safer) when Colonel Edward Roberts, a Civil War veteran and oil pioneer, added water to the mix, lessening the dramatic effect of oil or gas violently exploding out of the well head. Col. Roberts patented his “exploding torpedo,” which was made with nitroglycerin instead of explosives.
Today, fracking uses more advanced techniques and is much safer. George Mitchell, an expert geologist at Mitchell Energy, can be credited as the father of modern shale fracking. Mitchell had many skeptics. Most exploration companies stayed away from the thick, tough to reach Barnett Shale and only drilled above or below it. In 1981, he proved them wrong when he used fracking techniques to successfully extract natural gas from (almost) dried-up wells in the Barnett Shale of North Texas. The rest is history.
Some people think Fracking is a type of drilling process. It's really a technique used after the well has been completed. Typically, it's used in tough to reach places and on wells that most folks thought were permanently retired. Part of fracking includes protecting water supplies by lining the drill pipe with cement.
Fracking is most commonly used with horizontal drilling. First, a hole is drilled to a specific vertical depth. This includes several rounds of drilling in steel pipe, inserting surface and production casing, pouring cement and putting a blowout preventer in place. Horizontal drilling begins once the desired vertical depth is reached. As the name suggests, horizontal drilling simply means drilling parallel to the surface instead of perpendicularly. Horizontal drilling provides more access-points to extract natural resources. Now it's time to create the fractures in the shale rock (aka fracking).
The technique goes like this: a fluid mixture is pumped into a wellbore at a high enough pressure to create fractures in the shale rock formation. The fractures allow oil or gas to flow into the wellbore. This can be done several times before “pulling the plug” and extracting the resources.
Fracking has become a controversial topic. Critics say the process is bad because it may potentially expose our water supply to harmful chemicals, cause earthquakes or tremors, or waste water supplies. Others say the success of fracking distracts energy companies from looking into renewable energy sources.
Let us take a closer look at these claimed negative effects of fracking.
"Fracking contaminates our drinking water."
Fracking happens over a mile away from any water wells. Oil or gas reservoirs span up to 10,000 feet below surface level. One mile is 5,280 feet (to put things into perspective). Water wells, in contrast, are about 200 feet deep and can go up to 3,000 feet. Still over a mile away from oil and gas reserves. Also, multiple layers of steel pipe, casing and cement are put in place during the drilling process for containment. Drilling level of protection is significantly higher than the protection around pipes that carry water to our homes.
The fluid mixtures that are pumped down the drill pipe contain less than two percent chemical additives. The rest is sand and water. Looking closely at a list of chemicals used in fracking fluid, we find that most are found in common household cleaners and even ice cream. Next time you reach for the ice cream in the freezer, check out the list of ingredients. In most you’ll find guar gum, which is widely used in fracking. Also, keep in mind not all of these additives are used at the same time and the mixture changes depending on well location.
"Fracking wastes local water supplies."
We decided to be open-minded and hear the counter-arguments against fracking and watched the anti-oil and gas propaganda documentary, Gasland. Gasland was funded by the Soros Foundation and many of its radical claims are unfounded. The movie estimates two to eight billion gallons of water are used per fracked well.
Think about the industrial manufacturing plants manufacturing windmills and solar panels. These facilities can use over eighteen billion gallons of water per day. And these facilities are permanent, while fracking is temporary. We have eight billion (on the very high side, coming from an extreme source that vehemently opposes fracking) compared to eighteen billion. We can do the math. If not compelling enough, a research article published by Duke University states, “water used in fracking makes up less than one percent of total industrial water use nationwide.” Other extraction methods, including mining for coal, use up to thirteen times the amount of water. The bottom line: Fracking is no more wasteful than other types of energy production methods requiring industrial manufacturing.
"Fracking causes earthquakes."
Before we talk about why fracking is not causing earthquakes, we can ask…what else could cause earthquakes? What about when mountains were blasted across the country to build highways in the 50s and 60s? What about when holes were blasted in the ground to build hundreds of in-ground swimming pools for the Hollywood elite? And this is uncomfortably close to the San Andreas Fault.
Anyway, according to the USGS Earthquakes Hazard Program, “Fracking is not causing most of the induced earthquakes.” They attribute human-induced earthquakes, or earth tremors (less severe), to wastewater disposal. Wastewater disposal is not unique to fracking. The disposal happens at any manufacturing plant, natural resource extraction site, or facility that uses water for the purpose of cleaning or making something. Several variables are present in the disposal process that could lead to an earthquake—the amount of fluid being injected, the pressure at which the fluid is injected, location and presence of cracks near fault lines. Some of these factors are hard to measure but others, such as pressure, can be toned back to potentially reduce the amount of human-induced earthquakes. The key is to follow safety measures and not to rush the process.
Whichever the preference, rolling or squeezing, the benefits of getting every last drop of toothpaste is exponentially magnified when looking at the US energy supply. According to CNN, in a five-year span, the US was able to increase production from around 100,000 barrels per day to 4.3 million barrels per day in 2015 by using fracking techniques. The US has been able to access supplies that were previously unavailable and do so cost effectively.
This article has been adapted from a chapter from Trenegy’s book: Jar(gone)
Trenegy is a non-traditional consulting firm, dedicated to help companies clarify the latest business jargon into useful terms and solutions that actually benefit your company. Find out more: info@trenegy.com.
