Natural Gas Is A Rapidly Growing Section Of The Economy

In particular, the state of Pennsylvania has created a number of regulations to control the modern day fracking procedures and practices. Companies like Chesapeake Energy utilize a combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling to obtain more natural gas and cover more area. Currently, 30% of our country’s natural gas supply is extracted domestically and contributes to the 25% of our nation’s energy that comes from natural gas. Coal is the main source of energy at 30% and following natural gas are nuclear, hydro, wind, and solar. Natural gas leaves half the amount of carbon footprint that coal leaves. Natural gas is primarily used for electric power, but is also used to create material such as steel, glass, paper, cloth, and brick. It is also used in raw material such as paints, fertilizer, plastics, antifreeze, dyes, photographic film, medicines, and explosives. (EIA,

Natural gases are the most important source of energy in the modern world of technology and electricity production, which makes the skyrocketing gas production in the U.S. due to hydraulic fracturing incredibly valuable in terms of global trade and economy. The United States has always been reliant on the Middle East and other European and Asian countries for energy, but is very quickly becoming energy independent. "By 2020, the Energy Information Administration predicts that the USA will become a net exporter of natural gas", reaching energy independence from other countries and starting to export gas to provide revenue and pay off debts (Hassett and Mathur). Even

drilling process also uses various chemicals to extract the oil and natural gasses. Since fracking

W hy does everyone care so much about natural gas? Why is it such an essential part of modern culture? Sure, it's an exciting and up and coming technology, which is fuel for the technological generation that we've grown up in, but we need to take a closer look to see the methods and impacts that could affect generations after us.

Hydraulic fracking is vertical well bores are drilled thousands of feet into the earth, through sediment layers, the water table, and shale rock formations in order to reach the oil and gas. The drilling is then angled horizontally, where a cement casing is installed and will serve as a conduit for the massive volume of water, fracking fluid, chemicals and sand needed to fracture the rock and shale. In some cases, prior to the injection of fluids, small explosives are used to open up the bedrock. The fractures allow the gas and oil to be removed from the formerly impervious rock formations. Although fracking has technically been in existence for decades, the scale and type of drilling now taking place, deep fracking, is a new form of drilling

Next drillers inject the well with extremely pressurized fluid. The fluid is a make of water, sand, and lube sent into the wellbore under high pressure. Which then initiates the adjacent rock to crack and release natural gas that has been captive underneath the earth surface. The forced mixture then creates a fairway to the well and consents the released gas to flow to the wellbore.

Unlike straight drilling for oil or gas, that uses little space, hydraulic fracturing is drilled vertically

Therefore, natural gas would be a great investment in the economy considering the huge demand for natural gas. According to Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, “Canadian is the fifth largest natural gas producer and has enough natural gas reserves to meet current natural energy for 300 years (CAPP, ).” There will always be a demand for the natural gas industry because individuals are steering away from gasoline due to the negative effects on the environment, as well as the cost for natural gas. In addition, natural gas is inexpensive compared to gasoline. Therefore consumers consume natural gas, which is why natural gas is would be a good investment to the Canadian economy.

Some of the earliest “fracking” techniques can be traced back as early as the 1860’s (Carlson, 2011). These early techniques, used primarily in oil wells, used liquid nitroglycerin as a stimulant to break up shallow, hard rock wells that were located Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The use of nitroglycerin was extremely hazardous and often deemed illegal in many states; however, this “shooting” process was very successful. “Shooting” is a term used for injecting the nitroglycerin into the well to produce rubbished rock to increase both initial flow and the recovery of oil (Montgomery, 2010). Because of the success on oil wells, the similar principles were applied to gas and water wells.

Unfortunately, the drill cannot simply be poked in the ground with natural gas spewing out of the hole that has been created, fracking is much more complex than that as I am sure that you know already. Decades of research, triumphs and failures have gone into the creation, management and use of drilling rigs that, as a result, has left us with the standard fracking procedure we know today.

I found some information on the greensourcedfw.org on gas drilling also called fraking. Fraking is a process that injects large amounts of water, sand, and chemicals into the rock so it can break up rock formations and releases the natural gas. During the fraking process 2 to 7 million gallons of fresh water with sand and gallons of industrial chemicals so that the wate can penetrare more easily. After the natural gas is released it goes up the well and to the storage tanks, then it is sent to market.

In 2000, there were approximately 276,000 natural gas wells in the United States (Lallanilla). By 2010, that number had almost doubled to 510,000, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (Lallanilla). Each year 13,000 new wells are drilled and according to a study done in 2014, at least 15.3 million Americans have lived within a mile of a fracking well that has been drilled since 2000 (Lallanilla). This boom in the industry within the United States was prompted by the development of horizontal drilling which combined with fracking unlocked many new oil and gas deposits. Coupled with concerns over energy security and the costs associated with imported oil and other fossil fuels. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration it estimates that as of January 1, 2013 there was approximately 2,276 trillion cubic feet of recoverable dry natural gas in the United States (“US…”). At the rate of U.S. dry natural gas consumption in 2013 of about 27 Trillion cubic feet per year, the United States has enough natural gas to last about 84 years (“US…”). The general thinking about the industry is that with these natural gas deposits within the U.S. the country can use this fuel to ease its reliance on foreign energy supplies. In addition, provide a cleaner burning source of energy compared to coal and oil, buying the nation time and acting as a reliable bridge to future

The vertical well is then encased in steel and/or cement to ensure the well doesn 't run the risk of leaking into any groundwater. Once the vertical well reaches the deep layer of rock where natural gas or oil exists, the well curves about 90 degrees and begins drilling horizontally along that

Natural gas is made into energy when CPS Energy operates 14 gas units to complement its energy generation efforts with coal, nuclear and renewable energy. The turbines suck in air, mix it with the fuel and ignite a fireball. The hot gases from the fireball impact the blades of the turbine to cause motion, creating mechanical energy. The generator converts the mechanical energy into electricity before it is transmitted for customer use. (CPS Energy, 2013)

Most of the natural gas transportation in the USA is done through 305,000 miles of transmission pipelines. Existing LNG degasification facilities allow for limited international trade of LNG (Table 2). Due to free market pricing when natural gas cost less in summer period, gas-storing facilities are widespread over the country including more than 400 underground storages and 113 LNG peaking facilities (EIA, 2008).