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The Barnett Shale is a geological formation located in the Bend Arch-Fort Worth Basin. It consists of sedimentary rocks dating from the Mississippian period in Texas. The formation underlies the city of Fort Worth and underlies 5,000 mi² (13,000 km²) and at least 17 counties.
Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access (PASDA) is Pennsylvania's official public access geospatial information clearinghouse. PASDA serves as Pennsylvania's node on the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). PASDA is a cooperative effort of the Pennsylvania Geospatial Technologies Office of the Office of Information Technology and the Pennsylvania State University Institutes of Energy and the Environment (PSIEE).
Hydraulic fracturing in the United States began in 1949. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), by 2013 at least two million oil and gas wells in the US had been hydraulically fractured, and that of new wells being drilled, up to 95% are hydraulically fractured. The output from these wells makes up 43% of the oil production and 67% of the natural gas production in the United States. Environmental safety and health concerns about hydraulic fracturing emerged in the 1980s, and are still being debated at the state and federal levels.
XTO Energy Inc. is an American energy company, principally operating in North America, specializing in the drilling and production of unconventional oil and natural gas assets, typically from shale rock through a process known as hydraulic fracturing. It is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil.
Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and some analysts expect that shale gas will greatly expand worldwide energy supply.
Chief Oil & Gas is a company founded in Dallas, Texas in 1994 by Trevor Rees-Jones. Its primary holdings of natural gas were developed in the core areas of the Barnett Shale in Tarrant County, Denton County and Parker County. In 1999, new technology in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing along with rising gas prices made the Barnett Shale, an unconventional resource for natural gas, more economical. Chief rapidly expanded its leasehold position and drilling and production program in the Barnett Shale to become the fields second largest producer there.
Shale gas in the United States is an available source of natural gas. Led by new applications of hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling, development of new sources of shale gas has offset declines in production from conventional gas reservoirs, and has led to major increases in reserves of U.S. natural gas. Largely due to shale gas discoveries, estimated reserves of natural gas in the United States in 2008 were 35% higher than in 2006.
The Utica Shale is a stratigraphical unit of Upper Ordovician age in the Appalachian Basin. It underlies much of the northeastern United States and adjacent parts of Canada.
Hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, hydrofracking, and hydrofracturing, is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "fracking fluid" into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely. When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the well, small grains of hydraulic fracturing proppants hold the fractures open.
Shale gas is natural gas produced from shale, a type of sedimentary rock. Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. One analyst expects shale gas to supply as much as half the natural gas production in North America by 2020.
Range Resources Corporation is a natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It operates in the Marcellus Formation, where it is one of the largest land owners.
Hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom started in the late 1970s with fracturing of the conventional oil and gas fields near the North Sea. It was used in about 200 British onshore oil and gas wells from the early 1980s. The technique attracted attention after licences use were awarded for onshore shale gas exploration in 2008. The topic received considerable public debate on environmental grounds, with a 2019 high court ruling ultimately banning the process. The two remaining high-volume fracturing wells were supposed to be plugged and decommissioned in 2022.
Hydraulic fracturing has become a contentious environmental and health issue with Tunisia and France banning the practice and a de facto moratorium in place in Quebec (Canada), and some of the states of the US.
Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing in the United States has been an issue of public concern, and includes the contamination of ground and surface water, methane emissions, air pollution, migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals and radionuclides to the surface, the potential mishandling of solid waste, drill cuttings, increased seismicity and associated effects on human and ecosystem health. Research has determined that human health is affected. A number of instances with groundwater contamination have been documented due to well casing failures and illegal disposal practices, including confirmation of chemical, physical, and psychosocial hazards such as pregnancy and birth outcomes, migraine headaches, chronic rhinosinusitis, severe fatigue, asthma exacerbations, and psychological stress. While opponents of water safety regulation claim hydraulic fracturing has never caused any drinking water contamination, adherence to regulation and safety procedures is required to avoid further negative impacts.
The environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing is related to land use and water consumption, air emissions, including methane emissions, brine and fracturing fluid leakage, water contamination, noise pollution, and health. Water and air pollution are the biggest risks to human health from hydraulic fracturing. Research has determined that hydraulic fracturing negatively affects human health and drives climate change.
Shale gas in the United Kingdom has attracted increasing attention since 2007, when onshore shale gas production was proposed. The first shale gas well in England was drilled in 1875. A number of wells have been drilled, and favourable tax treatment has been offered to shale gas producers.
The Marcellus natural gas trend is a large and prolific area of shale gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale or Marcellus Formation of Devonian age in the eastern United States. The shale play encompasses 104,000 square miles and stretches across Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and into eastern Ohio and western New York. In 2012, it was the largest source of natural gas in the United States, and production was still growing rapidly in 2013. The natural gas is trapped in low-permeability shale, and requires the well completion method of hydraulic fracturing to allow the gas to flow to the well bore. The surge in drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale since 2008 has generated both economic benefits and considerable controversy.
Countries using or considering to use hydraulic fracturing have implemented different regulations, including developing federal and regional legislation, and local zoning limitations. In 2011, after public pressure France became the first nation to ban hydraulic fracturing, based on the precautionary principle as well as the principal of preventive and corrective action of environmental hazards. The ban was upheld by an October 2013 ruling of the Constitutional Council. Some other countries have placed a temporary moratorium on the practice. Countries like the United Kingdom and South Africa, have lifted their bans, choosing to focus on regulation instead of outright prohibition. Germany has announced draft regulations that would allow using hydraulic fracturing for the exploitation of shale gas deposits with the exception of wetland areas.
Hydraulic fracturing in Canada was first used in Alberta in 1953 to extract hydrocarbons from the giant Pembina oil field, the biggest conventional oil field in Alberta, which would have produced very little oil without fracturing. Since then, over 170,000 oil and gas wells have been fractured in Western Canada. Hydraulic fracturing is a process that stimulates natural gas or oil in wellbores to flow more easily by subjecting hydrocarbon reservoirs to pressure through the injection of fluids or gas at depth causing the rock to fracture or to widen existing cracks. New hydrocarbon production areas have been opened as hydraulic fracturing stimulating techniques are coupled with more recent advances in horizontal drilling. Complex wells that are many hundreds or thousands of metres below ground are extended even further through drilling of horizontal or directional sections. Massive fracturing has been widely used in Alberta since the late 1970s to recover gas from low-permeability sandstones such as the Spirit River Formation. The productivity of wells in the Cardium, Duvernay, and Viking formations in Alberta, Bakken formation in Saskatchewan, Montney and Horn River formations in British Columbia would not be possible without hydraulic fracturing technology. Hydraulic fracturing has revitalized legacy oilfields. "Hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells in unconventional shale, silt and tight sand reservoirs unlocks gas, oil and liquids production that until recently was not considered possible." Conventional oil production in Canada was on a decrease since about 2004 but this changed with the increased production from these formations using hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is one of the primary technologies employed to extract shale gas or tight gas from unconventional reservoirs.
SkyTruth is a nonprofit environmental watchdog that uses satellite imagery and remote sensing data to identify and monitor threats to the planet's natural resources. Its stated mission is to "share the view from space to promote conservation for people and the planet."</ref> Areas of focus range from issues such as offshore drilling, oil spills, hydraulic fracturing, mountaintop removal mining,illegal fishing and habitat change detection. SkyTruth releases all of its imagery and data to researchers and the public for free with the goal of greater transparency to hold industries and governments accountable for environmental harm].
References
- 1 2 "About Us". FracTracker. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- 1 2 Pryts, Monica (3 April 2013). "FracMapper site lets users pinpoint local gas/oil drilling". Sharon Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 Kobell, Rona (1 February 2012). "Website collects, lets people track shale-drilling data in their area". Bay Journal. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ Smit, Deb (17 April 2011). "What's next for Dan Volz?". PopCityMedia. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- 1 2 Malone, Sam. "Unveiling FracMapper, FracTracker's new mapping system!" . Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "Data Statement". FracTracker. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ↑ Press Release, University of Pittsburgh (29 June 2010). "Pitt Center Launches Online Tracking Tool to Assess Impact of Marcellus Shale Drilling" . Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ↑ "Fee-for-Service Structure / FracTracker Alliance" . Retrieved 18 September 2018.