Introduction The U.S. natural gas industry, and by extension the industry globally has borne witness to tremendous change over the past decade. During this period, U.S. natural gas production levels have risen from a twenty year low of 18 Tcf (510 Bcm ) in 2005, to an all-time high of 24 Tcf (680 Bcm) in 2012 . At the same time, natural gas prices have fallen to levels not seen since the period immediately following the U.S. gas market deregulation in the mid-nineties. The underlying driver of these dynamics has been the very rapid growth in the production of unconventional natural gas resources, and in particular shale gas resources – historically considered unrecoverable. Technical advances in the areas of drilling and reservoir stimulation have been the key to unlocking shale gas. Today’s shale gas is largely sourced from wells drilled with horizontal bores that have been subjected to large-scale hydraulic fracture stimulation. The combined efficacy of these technologies in enabling gas production from shale formations (and indeed other low permeability reservoir settings) is such that their development has led to enormous upward revisions in the assessed scale of the total recoverable natural gas resource in the United States. Today, analysis by organizations including the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and the Potential Gas Committee (PGC) suggest that the likely recoverable U.S. shale gas resource is in the 800-1,000 Tcf (23-28 Tcm) range. This contrasts with the National Petroleum Council (NPC) 2003, assessment that estimated the shale resource at 35 Tcf (1 Tcm). The prospect of a much larger and indeed lower-cost domestic natural gas resource in the U.S. is having major impacts on both the U.S. and intern... ... middle of paper ... ...mental processes involved in hydraulic fracturing remains the same. A fluid is injected (water is the commonly used) into the well bore at a sufficient rate to generate a pressure differential between the well bore and the reservoir. This causes stresses around the well bore to increase beyond the tensile strength of the rock, at which point it splits or “fractures”. Assuming a sufficient pumping rate is maintained, it is possible to ”grow” these fracture both in terms of width and length, such that they propagate away from the well bore into the surrounding formation. Generally speaking, once pumping ceases the induced fractures would close. So in order to keep fractures open, a proppant material must be placed in the fractures. This is achieved by transporting the proppant down hole as part of the slurry comprising of the proppant and the fracturing fluid itself.
The United States has an immense amount of proven natural gas reserves that could become a major source for the nation's energy future (1). The mining of the natural gas resources have become feasible and cheaper due to the advancement of hydraulic fracturing technologies which have increased the amount the extraction and enabled “greater access to gas in shale formations” (2). Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking of shale formations has positive benefits that includes economic growth and the natural gas extracted is cleaner than coal and oil, however it has caused serious environmental problems and possibly could be the cause of recent seismic activity in areas where fracking operations exist (3).
Oklahoma's oil and natural gas industry is giving us unstoppable progress for energy solutions, but the other parts of the nation are still searching for theirs. While providing jobs for the thousands of people who live in Oklahoma, the oil and natural gas industry not only donates to America's petroleum production, but it also produces millions of dollars for our state’s economy, schools, and roads. Making new headways in our industry every day, artificial technology, scientific breakthroughs, adequate new exploration, and drilling methods took place. Without these upgrades, we would not be able to extract oil and natural gas from challenging fields more efficiently than we can now. As capability rises, environmental impact will continue to go down. In 1897, a tower of surging oil divided the Bartlesville sky. Oklahoma's preliminary drilling swaged badly, brought forth by the federal controls on wellhead prices of natural gas applied to interstate commerce in the 1950s. By 1982, oil prices hit an all time high of $37.60 per barrel. Furthermore, the number of progressive drilling rigs in Oklahoma also hit a record of 882. The total quantity produced from the soul and natural gas industry in Oklahoma reached about 40 billion dollars in 2007. Also, through the gross production tax, oil and natural gas producers and royalty owners gave more than 2 billion dollars to Oklahoma used for teacher retirement, public schools, wildlife management, bridges, roads, and state colleges. Petroleum remains an indispensable Sooner State industry. Natural gas continued to grow in the early 1990s despite of the entire staggering bust that was caused by the plummeting world crude oil p...
The United States relies on imports for about forty percent of its crude oil, which is the lowest rate of dependency since 1991 according to the U.S Energy Information Administration. Today our country is trying to keep on track in becoming less and less dependent. When it comes to the topic of the future ways the United States will get its fuel, most of us readily agree that the United States should become more independent by using natural gas that is already here on our land. Where this argument usually ends, however, is on the question of the consequences drilling for natural gas brings. Whereas some are convinced drilling is safe, others maintain that it is actually in fact dangerous. Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking", the terms for drilling for natural gas, is dangerous to our public health and to the environment because of the water contamination it causes. Therefore, it is not something that should become a project for alternative fuel used by the United States.
In the past couple of years the word fracking has been prevalent in the media whether its been mentioned in the news or in the movie Matt Damon stared in titled “Promised Land”. Many people know it as a method of extracting gas from the earth and don’t inquire further into what hydraulic fracturing actually is. Before the process is explained we should understand why it has become prevalent in the last decade. The reason Hydraulic fracturing has become so popular in the last couple of years is because of the passage of the energy policy act of 2005, which contained the Halliburton loophole. The Halliburton loophole stripped the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing (New York Times 2009). Allowing Hydraulic Fracturing allowed companies to finally access the abundant sources of natural gas legally. This act made it possible to access the vast amounts of natural gas contained in the Marcellus Shale, which created a boom in hydraulic fracturing. What exactly is hydraulic fracturing? Hydraulic fracturing is a method of extracting oil and gas, that is not accessible by conventional drilling methods. The process, injects chemically treated water and sand at high pressures into shale rock to release the oil and gas (Pritchard 2013).
...ydraulic fracturing. During Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, holes are drilled into shale rock formations, deep beneath the earth's surface and injected with more than a million gallons of pressurized fracking fluid. This process creates small fissures within the rock layers that are held open by the sand particles, allowing the natural gas to vacate from the well (10). However, there is much debate over the long-term vitality and validity of the use of unconventional gas as a solution to the United States dependency on foreign oil. Much of this debate stems from what some have coined as the "exploration treadmill", the rate at which new plays must be added to production, in order to maintain a flat line and or growing (carbon)
The United States as well as the rest of the world are dealing with the issue that the world supply of oil is dwindling. Ever since our peak consumption year in 2005 the United States has been a major consumer of crude oil and petroleum products. As of 2012 according to the U.S Energy Information Administration “The United States consumed 18.6 million barrels per day of petroleum products, making us the world’s largest petroleum consumer.” The U.S. has long been dependent on foreign petroleum products to meet our ever growing energy demands and consumption. With the revolutionary and controversial rise of fracking it is now possible for the United States to become a self energy sufficient country. With fracking, the proper technology and economic
Inglesby, Tommy. Jenks, Rob. Nyquist, Scott. Pinner, Dickon. “Shale gas and tight oil: Framing the opportunities and risks.” McKinsey & Company (2012): Pg 30-35. Web. 3 Feb. 2015.
The United States spends billions of dollars on importing oil. This is represented as almost two-thirds of the country’s entire annual trade deficit. Now that there is more access to gas deposits, there is no need to rely on other countries around the world for fossil fuels. America can instead rely on their own resources to provide energy for the residents. America is already the world's largest producer of natural gas thanks to shell drilling and the country's sits on 2 of the world's largest gas fields gas production has soared 20 percent in five years in the United States now should have enough gas to last generations soon the nation will begin exporting gas and unimaginable possibility just a few years ago when energy supplies look set to run out in the construction of gas importing facilities was considered a matter of national urgency (Zuckerman, G.,
Natural gas extraction and consumption has risen over the past thirty years. Also known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a tremendous amount of uproar is being made in the environmental and political communities. Natural gas use is a great source of energy worldwide, only in America have we had a gold rush affect when it comes to extraction. Natural gas provides less dependence on foreign oil, less need for coal plants, and a more affordable energy source worldwide. There are many advantages to using natural gas but the way in which it is being extracted has caused many people to become sick. The detrimental environmental impacts caused by hydraulic fracturing continue to rise. Not to mention the political pull on big corporations and water quality standards. Currently in the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania and the Barnett shale in Texas, the air and water quality have diminished over the past years since drilling sites ran rampant. Natural gas is natural in terms of how it came to be, but not natural in how they extract it and the problems it is causing everyone involved. To make aware the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, environmental impacts, water quality and air emissions, must be considered.
Throughout the past three decades, energy has been a perennial issue in United States politics, economics, and media. The main concern surrounding this topic is the idea of energy independence and how the United States should proceed into the future. Energy independence relates to the goal of reducing United States dependence on importing foreign oil and other foreign energy sources. This desire aims to maintain energy dependence domestically so the United States can avoid reliance on any unstable countries and be detached from global energy supply distribution. It is currently being speculated that the United States might not be too far off from this goal. America’s dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year since 2007. In 2010, the U.S. imported less than 50 percent of the oil the country consumed -- the first time that’s happened in 13 years -- and the trend continued in 2011 (Zhang.) Experts credit new technology as the reason the United States is within several years of again becoming the biggest oil producer in the world, and perhaps two decades away from full energy independence. Hydraulic fracturing, fracking, is the “lead” technology in this technological revolution. Fracking is an economically more feasible way of drilling for oil or gas in harder to reach geological formation. Within the past decade or so, combining hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling has opened up shale deposits across the country. It has brought large-scale natural gas drilling to new regions that may not have had accessible deposits in the past. These areas have greatly benefited from the addition of this industry to their local economies. Certain are...
A few years ago, the price of gasoline peaked at a price of about four dollars a gallon, indicating a similarly high price for crude oil. This high price for crude oil incentivized many companies to invest in hydraulic fracturing in the state of Oklahoma. A problem arises, however, as many companies would spend more drilling than they profited from the oil drilled. According to Richard Manning, “A couple of generations ago we spent a lot less energy drilling, pumping, and distributing than we do now” (431). With this vast investment in the oil industry in Oklahoma, eventually the price of oil dropped and these companies went bankrupt. With the decline in oil prices, so too did the Oklahoman economy follow as Asjylyn Loder remarks, “In the second quarter of last year [2015], Oklahoma’s economy shrank 2.4 percent” (12). This collapse in the economy has been seen before by Oklahoma and will not likely recover for likely many
The recent advances in fracking technology has enabled us to reach previously unreachable reserves of natural gas and oil, “In 2008, after the breakthrough, the amount of domestic natural resources surged to 2.5 quadrillion feet. In other words, in just one year's time, we expanded our access to domestic natural gas by 66 percent”(Simmons ) and these reserves are huge. They are estimated to contain enough natural gases to power America for hundreds
Rao, Vikram. Shale Gas: The Promise and the Peril. Research Triangle Park, NC: RTI, 2012. Print.
Drilling for natural gas has been going on since the early nineteenth century and our energy consumption has increased dramatically since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. In the last few years fracking has been making headlines in the news, however not for particularly good reasons. This method has been around since the 1940’s but has gained popularity as a way of tapping natural gas in recent years due in part by the oil crisis and tensions in the Middle East. Since the U.S. has an abundance of natural gas trapped beneath its soil (Daniel 2) one may think that this is a great direction that we are headed in order to sustain our energy needs and not be dependent on foreign oil.
In the last decade the extraction of natural gas from underground reservoirs has increased. Natural gas supplies 24% of the United States energy demand and is only expected to grow. Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped in shale. Shale is sedimentary rocks that consist of clay minerals that have low permeability. Natural gas that is found in shale is buried in fractures below ground and must be extracted by hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking [10]. One of the most recognized sites for the extraction of natural gas by fracking has been at the Barnett shale in the last decade. The Barnett shale is a region that extends west of Fort Worth, Texas to the Permian Basin and has been known to extend as far south into Mexico. The Barnett shale is a complex system of fractures in which the region has seen new developments in fracking to extract the natural gas from the ground [11].