Fracking Overview

By Rocky Romero

WHY IS FRACKING USED?

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•Production rates are a function of reservoir pressure

•As production is removed from the reservoir, pressure decreases and therefore production decreases

•At some point, the economic limit is reached and decisions about enhanced recovery of the well must be made

EconomicUneconomic

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

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Two Types of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)

• Inert Gas Injection Carbon dioxide Nitrogen LPG

• Waterflood

Secondary Recovery(re-pressurizing the reservoir)

Tertiary Recovery (altering physical character of

the oil and/or rock in-situ)

• Steamflood• Chemical flood

(surfactant/detergent)• In-situ Combustion• Hydraulic fracturing

Remember, only about 20-30% of the hydrocarbon in a reservoir is ever recovered…EOR will improve that ratio!

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

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• The process of fracking (hydraulic fracturing) is to fracture reservoir rock (up to 500’ from perforations) with high pressure fluid (water) & place a permeable proppant material (sand) into the fracture channel

• Fracture remain open after pressure is reduced providing a high conductivity pathway for reservoir fluids to flow to the well

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

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• In North America, 58 percent of new gas wells and 38 percent of new oil wells are hydraulically fractured.

• Hydraulic fracturing is also being used more often in high permeability formations

• This could be on new wells with very low permeability or old wells with production decline

58 % New Gas Wells

38 % New Oil Wells

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

6A Frac Job takes considerable equipment

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

3 ½ minute video on how fracking is done

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

• Fracking is done on vertical wells and on deviated wells called horizontal wells (horizontal well shown on right)

• Fracking is done thru a high pressure pipe known as production casing that is contained within at least 2 larger diameter casing strings to prevent leakage to any aquifers the well might be drilled through

• Vertical well shown on right

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING WATER NEEDS

•One time water needs for each well

•This amount of water is the average golf course uses every 15 days in the south

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING WATER NEEDS

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

• Only 0.49% of the injection fluid is NOT water

• These are specialized chemicals used for various purposes that help keep the water clean and fracking done at the lowest possible pressure

• See chart to right for details on what these chemicals are

Environmental Overview

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• Cows killed• Drinking water burns• Skin rashes• Contaminated soils• Dust/Air pollution• Noise pollution

CLAIMS AGAINST FRACTURING

Conversation with Dr. Ian DuncanAssociate Director, Texas Dept of Economic Geology

•Areas of Dimock, PA have historical records of NATURAL methane seepage into underground aquifers

•He notes that their local Ag Extension service used and still do provide a warning brochure, which he has a copy of, advising prospective new residents of the area of the dangers of methane in their drinking water as home have blown up in the past as a result

•Evidence shows that more often than not, it is the natural seepage of methane that is causing problems with their drinking water, not Fracking as reported by the News Media and YouTube

Overview of One Experts Opinion

Conversation with Dr. Ian DuncanAssociate Director, Texas Dept of Economic Geology

• Over 1000 supposed claims of environmental disasters associated with Fracking

• Only 30-40 have been filed with the Environmental Defense League

• 6 identified as possible issues

• 3 found incorrectly attributed fracking with naturally occuring methane seepage into underground aquifers

• 3 found with bad cement jobs (Wyoming, Colorado, Ohio)

• 2 of these 3 had prior knowledge of the cement situation but Fracked anyway –

• Only 1 instance of fracking causing unintentional problems

Dr. Duncan will be published a paper this year with his results

Separating FACT from FICTIONSeparating FACT from FICTION

MASSACHUTTES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY – July 2011 –

(http://web.mit.edu/mitei/research/studies/documents/natural-gas-2011/NaturalGas_Chapter%201_Context.pdf)

“There has been concern that these fractures can also penetrate shallow freshwater zones and contaminate them with fracturing fluid, but there is no evidence that this is occurring.

There is, however, evidence of natural gas migration into freshwater zones in some areas, most likely as a result of substandard well completion practices by a few operators.”

Separating FACT from FICTION

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS – AUSTIN (January 2012)(http://energy.utexas.edu/images/stories/chip_groat_shale_gas120126.pdf)

Separating FACT from FICTION

General ObservationsMany of the violations are procedural and:

o represent no environmental effects, or

o are minor with no environmental effects

o represent minor effects, such as small releases

Many of the effects noted occur in all types of oil and gas well development – not unique to shale gas

Fractured wells may experience more incidents because of additional equipment on the site

Environmental Protection Agency

Study started in 2010

Results due in 2012

Separating FACT from FICTION

EPA Study in Progress

EPA RSTUDY TO BE COMPLETED BY 2012

EPA Study in Progress

VIDEOS EXPLAINING DRILLING IN THE MARCELLUS

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Drilling Topic Video Link

Site Selection http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IAP1GCWkSE

Well Pad Preparation & Drilling the well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF3dzivVI-o

Completion of the well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYKQDjciI3o

Production & Marketing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gw_Bn-JqDg&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Frac water cleanup & reuse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swNaEXozecw

Reclamation of the well site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFUOwZPkwg

This are some of the best videos I’ve seen on YouTube on the subject of drilling operations in general and the Marcellus Shale in particular

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Drilling Topic Video LinkHorizontal Drilling http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR

=1&v=vvRCYLnVWG8&feature=endscreen Hydraulic Fracking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjP-K1VaI1k

Noise Control http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6HY_HZNFmY&NR=1&feature=endscreen

This are some of the best videos I’ve seen on YouTube on the subject of drilling operations in general and the Marcellus Shale in particular

VIDEOS EXPLAINING DRILLING IN THE MARCELLUS

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9gGqNUxQ5Q http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Oil_platform_P-51_%28Brazil%29.jpg http://www.arrow-s.com/equipment/new-equipment.html http://www.chk.com/Media/Educational-Library/Fact-Sheets/Marcellus/Marcellus_Hydraulic_Fracturing_Fact_Sheet.pdf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73mv-Wl5cgg&feature=relmfu http://www.flickr.com/photos/royaldutchshell/5352075212/in/photostream/ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303936704576398462932810874.html http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=4330http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/index.cfm?tg= Bakkenhttp://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=3750

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_platform http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpjack http://www.usatanksales.com/fireprotectiontanks.html http://www.worleyparsons.com/CSG/HYDROCARBONS/ONSHOREOILGASPRODUCTIONFACILITIES/Pages/default.aspx http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYQcSz27Xp8&feature=player_embedded http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piping_and_instrumentation_diagram http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/americas-fracking-problem-0022005 http://www.energyindepth.org/ http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/index.cfm?tg= shale http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=4030http://www.frackcheckwv.net/about/what-is-fracking/

OIL & GAS REFERENCES