Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking

[Ross]

A friend told me a few months ago about a company having come to area paying for rights to do horizontal drilling. They asked if I would allow that type of drilling on my property. Since I had already read about the problems in other areas fo the country about cattle dyin, drinking warer being contaminated and other problems I imeadiately said no way. Besides I only have 60 acres and I don't think they would be interested in such a small parcel.

Anyway I just read anew article about this issue and I thought I'd share it with everone.

Nastiness and rancor erupting in communities nationwide over the volatile issue of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110412/ap_on_re_us/us_gas_drilling_torn_towns

[Diane Amberg]

Unfortunately Bradford County Pa.(northeast of here) had a fracking blow out yesterday that spilled thousands of gallons of the fracking fluid, whose chemical content has been considered proprietary.They evacuated some people and are concerned about stream runoff. I had been hoping they had this process in hand because we need the gas so much, but it's not quite there yet.

[Ross]

I weorked for Arco Pipeline for 10 years and during that ten years I only saw a couple of spills. And were from a large pipe.
We moved rapidly with vacuum trucks to pick up as much as possible. Very little got away from us. Arco was very viglant about their refined products and crude oil.

Fracking is chemicals pumped directly into the ground it's not really contained but nobody cares until it burst through to the surface. The ground below is still being contaminated. Think about it. How much of the stuff is left down there to seep through to under ground water tables.

[frawin]

"Fracking  is chemicals pumped directly into the ground " Fracking or Fracing  is not necessarily Chemicals pumped into the Producing zone. A lot of fracs are Sand Fracs/Water Fracs with little or no chemicals. I have spent 49 years in the oil and gas producing, marketing, transportation and still work in it and all of the Pipeline Companies, Oil Companies, Independent producers Drilling Companies that I have worked for and with are very careful to protect the Earth. Spills that do occur are cleaned up quickly and thoroughly. Like in any business there are a few bad apples that give everyone a bad name.

[flintauqua]

I'm going to interject some personal observation here, not to start a fight with anyone, but to educate those who may not know one reason (IMO) why fracking has become such a hot button issue lately.

I have been around oil wells that were being drilled and subsequently fracked, and I have also been around an established well being re-fracked.  Hydraulic fracturing has been around in the oil and gas fields for decades, wiki says since 1947.

What is different is that until very recently, oil and gas wells (on land) were nearly always drilled straight down; vertically.  Thusly, the well casings were only perforated in the specific rock layer or layers where oil (or gas) was present.  Even if there were multiple 'pay zones' or 'horizons' in the same well, the perforated pipe would only amount to a few dozen to a couple hundred feet, while the total well depth would be several hundred to many thousands of feet.  A small percentage of the entire well depth would be perforated and therefore capable of being fracked.

Technological advances coupled with the rise in energy prices have recently made directional or horizontal drilling more feasible and practical, though the initial realization that it could be done goes back to the 40's or earlier  In this method, the drill pipe starts down either vertically or slanted but eventually is curved into a horizontal position allowing several hundred to thousands of feet of the well to be in the pay zone.  This results in a much larger percentage of the entire well being perforated and fracked, and much larger amounts of fracking fluids being required per well.  In many instances this amount of fluid is ten to twenty times (or more) the amount required for a traditionally drilled well.

Another result of directional drilling is that multiple wells can be drilled from a single point on the surface, both laterally like spokes on a wheel, but also vertically into pay zones at different depths, like multiple rimless wagon wheels stacked on top of each other.

So you can imagine the change in the amount of fluid going into the ground at a single point compared to how it used to be done.

So, there's my two dollar bill worth.  Probably TMI for some and too simplfied for others, but there it is.  

And while I was typing this, frawin posted, and I would not even pretend to know a thousandth as much as he does on this subject, but I will reinterate that my ramblings have to do with the sheer quantity of fracking fluid being used, and not a thing to do with what is or is not in the fluids.

[Mom70x7]

There's a fuss going on in Arkansas right now - I only listened with half an ear, from the other room, but I think they are saying this is causing their earthquakes.

[Diane Amberg]

Yes, that's been Chesapeake Energy too, but they just sold their Arkansas site to Australia. There is some serious question there and local people are concerned, just as they found water mining can cause huge sink holes, they are concerned about the increase in small earthquakes and very concerned about ground water contamination. The Bradford County Pa. spill seems to be linked to a case crack but they aren't totally sure yet.

[redcliffsw]

Short video about horizontal drilling.......

http://www.northernoil.com/drilling.php

[Mom70x7]

Interesting - thanks.

[Diane Amberg]

So now it seems the PA blow out was of the brine type, doesn't sound too bad unless it ruins some wells and ground water. That Marcellus shale is under about 3/4 of Pa. so what they do with it could affect a lot of people both positively and negatively. Some folks are already picketing against any more fracking.