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Hydraulic Fracturing and Shale Gas Production: Technology, Impacts, and Policy

Hydraulic Fracturing and Shale Gas Production: Technology, Impacts, and Policy

Full Title:  Hydraulic Fracturing and Shale Gas Production: Technology, Impacts, and Policy
Author(s):  Corrie Clark, Andrew Burnham, Christopher Harto, and Robert Horner
Publisher(s):  Argonne National Laboratory
Publication Date: September 1, 2012
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

Hydraulic fracturing is a key technique that has enabled the economic production of natural gas from shale deposits, or plays. The development of large-scale shale gas production is changing the U.S. energy market, generating expanded interest in the usage of natural gas in sectors such as electricity generation and transportation. At the same time, there is much uncertainty of the environmental implications of hydraulic fracturing and the rapid expansion of natural gas production from shale plays. The goal of this white paper is to explain the technologies involved in shale gas production, the potential impacts of shale gas production, and the practices and policies currently being developed and implemented to mitigate these impacts. Unlike conventional mineral formations containing natural gas deposits, shale has low permeability, which naturally limits the flow of gas or water. In shale plays, natural gas is held in largely unconnected pores and natural fractures. Hydraulic fracturing is the method commonly used to connect these pores and allow the gas to flow. The process of producing natural gas from shale deposits involves many steps in addition to hydraulic fracturing, all of which involve potential environmental impacts. Hydraulic fracturing (commonly referred to as “fracking” or “fracing”) is often misused as an umbrella term to include all of the steps involved in shale gas production. These steps include road and well pad construction, drilling the well, casing, perforating, hydraulic fracturing, completion, production, abandonment, and reclamation.

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