Full Title: State Regulations, Litigation, and Hydraulic Fracturing
Author(s): Francis Gradijan
Publisher(s): University of Texas
Publication Date: July 1, 2012
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Hydraulic fracturing is a process by which oil and gas operators can increase recovery of resources from otherwise unproductive, tight hydrocarbon bearing formations. After a well is drilled, it is encased in concrete and steel casing to prevent resource seepage into nearby rock formations. Holes, called perforations, are made in the casing over an interval in which hydrocarbons may be located. Hydraulic fracturing fluids, which are made of water and chemicals, are pumped under pressure through holes that are perforated in the casing until fractures are opened or enlarged in the shale formation’s rocks. A ‘propping agent’, such as sand or ceramic beads, is pumped into the fractures to keep fractures from closing as the pumping pressure is released. The fracturing fluids are then returned back to the surface. If the hydraulic fracturing is successful, natural gas then flows from rock fractures into the well.