Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, has been attracting both negative and positive headlines for decades. But what is fracking?
To some critics, it’s a public health risk that encourages fossil fuel usage and contributes to climate change. On the other hand, it’s one of the most crucial energy discoveries of the last 50 years, creating jobs, wealth, and meeting our increasing power demands.
Let’s explore these two diametrically opposed positions and discover more about fracking and its role in the energy industry.
What Is Fracking?
In simple terms, fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is oil and natural gas extraction from deep underground wells.
The process involves the high-pressure injection of a water, chemical, and sand mix into underground rock formations or shale formations. This breaks up the shale rock, releasing oil and gas, which then flow up to a wellhead for collection. Thus, the term fracking originates from “fracturing” the shale and bedrock.
What Is the Fracking Process?
Fracking helps the oil and gas industry access oil and natural gas reservoirs that otherwise would be unreachable. These reserves are called unconventional reserves, or sometimes “tight oil” or “tight gas” because of the way they’re trapped in rock formations deep underground.
A typical fracking process starts with the preparation for drilling, which may take a few weeks. Companies usually begin by constructing roads to and from their chosen site. Next, a drilling site is erected with appropriate stone and impermeable lining to protect the area from any spills.
Next, it’s time to drill. There are two types of drilling: vertical drilling and horizontal drilling.
Vertical drilling
This involves drilling straight down into the ground, creating what is called a wellbore or borehole. The borehole eventually passes the deepest freshwater aquifer at typically 300-1,000 feet (90-305 meters). Then, a steel pipe replaces the drill. The steel pipe is called surface casing. It will help protect the water supply by keeping fluids, gas, and oil within it and away from water sources.
To achieve this, cement is pumped down the surface casing and between the casing and borehole. Once set, the cement creates an impermeable barrier between the borehole and any underground freshwater sources. Depending on the area’s geology, engineers may put in extra casing sections to ensure no fluids or gas can mix with groundwater sources. Vertical drilling continues until the desired depth is required.
Horizontal drilling
Shale formations usually require horizontal drilling. Workers drill vertically to the required depth and then curve the drilling to horizontal. Again, upon reaching its target, another surface casing is sent down and then covered with cement to create an impermeable barrier from the surface to the target reserve. Drilling can typically take 8-12 weeks to complete.
One vertical borehole can access several reserves through horizontal drilling. Imagine the hands on a clock. The vertical borehole is in the center of the clock. Horizontal drilling can reach out to underground gas or oil fields situated at different points on the clock face, perhaps at the three, the seven, and then halfway to the nine.
How Does Fracking Access Oil and Gas?
Creating a fracking well is the next step, connecting the underground oil and gas with the surface via the sealed, impermeable surface casing.
A tool called a perforating gun is lowered into the surface casing, down to the targeted rock. Once in position, the perforating gun is fired, creating small holes a few inches long in the surface casing. There is now a connection between the oil and gas and the borewell. However, operators say this firing isn’t detectable above ground.
After all this preparation work, we are finally at the part which gives this process the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, its title.
A stimulation fluid is pumped at high pressure down the surface casing to the holes made by the perforating gun. The fluid is mainly water (90-95%), sand, and between 3-12 chemical additives, mixed for maximum performance and to prevent bacteria from forming.
This high-pressure pumping pushes the liquid out of the perforating gun holes. The excessive pressure fractures the shale rock where the oil and natural gas lie. The fossil fuels now flow up the surface casing pipe to the wellhead.
Oil and gas extraction can now begin as the oil and gas start to flow to the surface. Production can last 20-40 years, depending on the size of the reserves. Wells are filled, and pipes are sealed below ground once production is no longer economical. Companies should remove all surface equipment and return the land to its previous state.
Is Natural Gas a Byproduct of Fracking?
Shale gas is simply another word for Natural gas extracted from shale geological formations. They are found underground with petroleum, also known as oil, or crude oil.
The “gas” that North Americans put in their cars is not actually a gas; it’s a liquid made from petroleum, aka crude oil.
How Is Natural Gas Collected in Fracking?
Natural gas collected in fracking is also known as shale gas. Like oil, trapped shale gas flows into the borehole surface casing and rises to the surface once hydraulic fracking occurs. It is collected at the surface by a natural gas well.Natural gas collected in fracking is also known as shale gas. Like oil, trapped shale gas flows into the borehole surface casing and rises to the surface once hydraulic fracking occurs. It is collected at the surface by a natural gas well.
Where Does Fracking Take Place in the World?
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), only four countries produce commercial volumes of shale gas or oil from fracking. These are the United States, Canada, China, and Argentina, with the United States the largest fracking country in the world.
Many countries have banned fracking or placed a moratorium on it after previously allowing it. These include France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. England had allowed fracking but stopped it in 2019 after activity at the one well provoked some local earthquakes.
What Chemicals Are Used in Fracking?
There are a variety of chemicals used in fracking for various reasons. The industry is always quick to point out that the vast majority of fracking fluid pumped underground is water. However, fracking requires millions of gallons of water, meaning vast quantities of chemicals are used. For example, a four-million-gallon fracturing operation might use 80-330 tons of chemicals.
Some studies have shown up to 90% of water — and therefore the chemicals — remain underground after fracking, affecting water resources as well as polluting them.
A few of the chemicals used in fracking include:
Hydrochloric or muriatic acid: Dissolves minerals and initiates cracks in rocks
Methanol: Reduce rust on steel tubes, casings, tanks, etc. — only when fracturing fluids contain acid
Petroleum distillates such as benzene: Reduces friction during high-pressure pumping
Other chemicals, such as 1,2-Dichloroethane, have been found in fracturing fluid wastes at levels exceeding drinking water standards, which the United States Environmental Protection Agency has identified as a probable carcinogen. Also, benzene is known to cause cancer.
Why Is Fracking Controversial?
Fracking has a long rap list ranging from its use of carcinogenic chemicals to its environmental polluting methods.
Residents who live near fracking sites complain about groundwater contamination, air pollution, earthquakes, noise pollution, and more.
And who can forget the videos of residents saying they could set fire to their drinking water after fracking started nearby? The industry has been quick to myth-bust this eye-catching claim.
There’s also the consideration of fracking’s impact on climate change that comes from using fossil fuels like natural gas and oil as part of our energy mix.
Why Is Natural Gas Fracking Bad?
The fracking process uses many materials, and critics say it damages both the environment and people’s health.
The EIA states the following issues:
- Wells require vast amounts of water, which can affect water availability and local habitats.
- Fracking fluid may contain hazardous chemicals that can spill or leak, contaminating local areas.
- Fracking results in large amounts of surface wastewater, some of which can contain some of the dangerous chemicals used in the fracking fluid.
- Hydraulic fracking can cause minor earthquakes, which can bring gas and fracking fluids back to the surface. In addition, some companies inject this material back underground, into deep wells, which itself can trigger small earthquakes and pollute.
- Natural gas, predominantly methane, may come to the surface and be released into the atmosphere.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency also found that water supplies are at risk. For example, fracking fluid injected directly into groundwater supplies or unlined water pits can later seep into groundwater reserves. It also lists some of the hazardous chemicals as possible carcinogens, while others like benzene are known to cause cancer.
Fracking activity endangers people, the environment, and wildlife, and also damages the local wild landscapes.
How Does Fracking Affect My Health?
Several studies suggest negative health consequences for people who live close to oil and gas fracking developments. Several studies suggest negative health consequences for people who live close to oil and gas fracking developments.
In the United States alone, an estimated 17.6 million North Americans live within one mile of a fracking site. For example, Texas has 4.5 million people living within a mile of a gas well. Similarly, California, Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania have one million or more people living within one mile of a well.
Fracking can affect air quality and contaminate surface water, groundwater, and soil. Residents that live nearby list respiratory problems, headaches, and fatigue after fracking started in the area. Low birth weights and maternal stress have been linked to California’s fracking pollutants and congenital heart defects in Colorado.
Continued gas development and oil production seem to swim against the now popular tide of renewable energy. Instead, people and politicians worldwide appear more interested in clean energy sources such as solar panels and wind power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the fight against climate change.
Does Fracking Cause Pollution?
According to a report by Earthworks, fracking does cause pollution. Key findings included that 90% of water injected underground at fracking gas wells is never returned to the water cycle. Many chemicals form part of the water pumped underground.
Looking at specific cases, some 80% of the water used in West Virginia’s fracking industry came from rivers and streams, with only 8% reused or recycled. At the Susquehanna River Basin in Pennsylvania, that recycling figure was 14%. In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that up to nine of the 36 drinking water wells in Northeastern Pennsylvania have been impacted by stray gas (methane and ethane) associated with nearby hydraulic fracturing activities.
In Killdeer, North Dakota, the EPA also found brine and tert-butyl alcohol that had entered aquifers was attributable to a blowout at a fracking site that released fracking fluid. People living near fracking sites have reported localized methane leaks, which scientists have backed with data.
There are many more examples. Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest environmental law organization, has an interactive map of the United States listing fracking-related pollution issues.
Fracking wells often have to flare, which means burning unwanted or excess gas (mainly methane) that cannot be or is too expensive to collect. Estimates think flaring is responsible for nearly 1% of all global carbon dioxide emissions.
What Does Fracking Do to the Water?
The fracking industry claims fracking does not affect water quality. But, as we’ve seen, the EPA has established connections between fracking and adverse effects on water quality. People’s drinking water has strange odors, tastes, and sometimes contains pollutants.
But surely the fracking industry is monitored? Well, not as much as one may think. The United States has the “Halliburton loophole.” Essentially, this exempts fracking from federal oversight under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
A 2015 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) act aimed to bring more control over the U.S. fracking industry, aiming to minimize groundwater pollution. However, the Trump administration rescinded the fracking rule implemented by the BLM at the end of 2017.
With so many conflicting opinions and the lack of proper monitoring, the actual effect of fracking on water quality in the United States is not yet known.
Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes?
Yes, fracking does cause minor earthquakes, albeit most are in the form of tremors. In February 2019, two people died, and 12 were injured in Gaoshan in China’s Sichuan Province after a 4.9 magnitude earthquake, the first deaths attributed to earthquakes caused by fracking activities.
In August 2019, a 2.9 magnitude tremor occurred in Lancashire in England, close to the country’s only fracking site. It has since been closed down.
Evidence is growing that ties fracking to tremors and earthquakes across the United States, too.
Is Fracking Allowed in National Parks?
Every country has its own rules on National Park protection from fracking. In the United States, the Trump administration allowed fracking on federal land close to national parks. However, President Joe Biden announced a moratorium on new fracking and oil exploration on public land shortly after taking power.
There are already active wells in some National Parks. Since 1947, Pennsylvania’s Sproul State Forest has had around 2,000 conventional and unconventional wells drilled on state forest land. Most of the state sits on top of the Marcellus Shale, a prime zone for fracking.
Fracking activity also takes place in Colorado’s Arapaho National Forest and surrounding Pawnee National Grassland as well as Big South Fork NRRA. The National Parks Conservation Association estimates that there are around 40 parks with active oil and gas wells or “at risk of future oil and gas development” within their boundaries.
The Case in Favor of Fracking
There are two sides to the fracking argument, and many people are divided on the issue.
Fracking for oil and natural gas production has helped the United States become the world’s largest oil producer and natural gas producer. This growth has created a lot of jobs within the industry and helped make the U.S. energy independent.
In 2020, this fracking boom helped the United States extract a record 33.4 trillion cubic feet (TcF) of natural gas, of which 29.2 TcF was from shale or tight gas. That tight gas (gas from fracking) figure is more than four times the amount extracted 15 years ago.
The Marcellus shale formation is the most significant player in this fracking boom. It spans Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, and West Virginia and is now the United States’ most prominent source of natural gas from shale. It takes its name from unusual and visible outcrops in the town of Marcellus, New York.
What Are the Advantages of Fracking?
Horizontal drilling means companies can extract gas and oil from more than one field using just one natural gas well. That means fewer wells are required to develop an area’s natural gas field. Fracking has also made large reserves accessible and economically viable.
Many advocates point to natural gas’ relatively low carbon dioxide footprint as a positive, too. Natural gas is regularly touted as the cleanest of fossil fuels. A new natural gas power plant produces around a third less carbon dioxide than one burning crude oil and 50-60% less carbon dioxide than a new coal-powered plant.
Natural gas is a versatile fossil fuel. In 2020, the United States used gas thus:
- Generate electricity (38%)
- Industrial use (33%)
- Residential (15%)
- Commercial (10%)
- Transportation (3%)
The fracking industry believes that extracting this relatively clean fossil fuel with transitioning to more renewable sources offers employment, safe extraction, and energy security.
Understanding What Is Fracking and Its Implications
To frack, or not to frack?
Fracking is a heated topic between residents and fracking companies. Drilling down into rock formations and blasting out the oil and gas remains a controversial extraction method, no matter how many technological advances or safety features are added.
Potential local pollution and health risks have been ignored by some countries determined to ride an energy boom. However, many countries have also banned fracking due to those same risks.
Burning natural gas is contributing to global warming and increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But many people enjoy the benefits of using natural gas at home. So perhaps the question that would better frame the discussion is: What is fracking’s role in climate change?
Brought to you by amigoenergy
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