Petroleum Engineering

Hydraulic fracking purportedly has been considered important to our nation’s expansion of natural gas as well as giving rise to our nation’s economy. Globally, the fracking industry has supported and created a large job market and has employed a vast number of unemployed workers. In 2012 alone, the industry created 2.1 million jobs across the United States (1). States such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Texas have successfully lead the charge within this ever growing business activity. The fracking industry in Arkansas, for example, employed 5.9% of the state’s overall employment of 92,500 jobs. The labor income from the fracking industry is $4.22 billion. Furthermore, the industry successfully supported Arkansas’s public schools during 2012-2013 saving $9.9 million paired with saving 144 teaching positions.

This is even more important because so many Americans lost their jobs as oil and gas production, "with the number of employees in oil and gas with the number of employees in oil and gas extraction shrinking by over 50 percent to 118,400 in 2003" (Hassett and Mathur). Americans were losing jobs in gas production starting from the early twenty-first century due to the fact that "easily tapped oil reserves grew scarcer and domestic oil production declined", until improvements in fracking for shale gas created more jobs(Hassett and Mathur). The jobs fracking creates is much needed to boost the sagging American economy, but even more important to the economy is the gas produced.

Offshore drilling has become an essential part of today’s oil production and demand for energy. With the growth of population comes the increasing demand for oil. The oil industry today, is one of the most used providers of energy. Today in the 20th century the majority of the population in America has a car and cars needs gas to run. The oil reserves in the earth that are easily accessible via land are starting to run dry and are becoming harder to find. This is why we have begun to see more and more offshore oil drills. Although there are benefits of offshore drilling such as profit, lower gas prices, and becoming less dependent on foreign oil. There are also many drawbacks in which if something were to go wrong, the mistake would be catastrophic impacting the environment, the nature, and have trickling effects all around the world.

The age demographic segment of oil and gas industry is normally people in their late 40s and early 50s. There is also a group of neophytes but there are very few people with ages between the two groups. Also, most of the people in this industry are highly specialty engineers with experience and skills to make important decision about drilling. There are also other specialty people in the business sides to vision and plan the competitive strategies to compete with other companies.

Oil suppliers dig deep down to the roots to analyze and derive concrete solutions to carry on the rising market. The force of fracking in the United States is lifting the economy; the system has been a political game changer for the nation, creating job opportunities and investing money into the community. The United States is currently capable of competing with the global marketplaces at a high rate. This coordination leads to knowledge for on-shoring manufacturing, which eliminates the dependency on foreign oil. This significant groundwork is driving opportunities for innovators. The abundant supply of oil and the inexpensive cost leads to cheaper energy for consumers (Dews, 2015). Along with the low price for refineries,

Fracking in North Dakota alone went from 4,600 to 6,600 wells just from 2009-2012. Due to the increase in wells, natural gas extraction went from 7.5 million to 16.9 million barrels of oil (Loris 2). This increase in the oil and gas industry also provides jobs in several fields such as geology, engineering, rig working, truck driving, pipe welding, and many more, which means that the US unemployment will go down as long as this economic boom keeps up. However, fracking provides more than just jobs; it provides an economic boost to the communities where fracking occurs. States like Louisiana and Oklahoma practice fracking in more rural areas and it is seen as an economic boost more so in those places than in states like Colorado, where fracking

The implementation of fracking has had a dramatic economic impact on the United States. The use of fracking in the last decade has increased the production of natural gas from shale formations by 10 times. (Issues) This has resulted in the United States moving more toward natural gas and away from coal to fulfill its energy power needs. In fact, one of the largest production growth areas of

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.

How does fracking and the oil and gas industry affect each of us personally? It is estimated that the oil and natural gas industry employs over 2.8 million people either directly or indirectly and employment in the industry, as a result of fracking, has grown substantially (Figure 3). In recent years we have seen oil and natural gas prices plummet due in part to hydraulic fracturing. Petroleum prices that were once over $4.00 at the pump are now hovering around $2.50. Natural gas prices have dropped dramatically (by 47%) since the fracking revolution. According to a report by Catherine Hausman and Ryan Kellogg on the “Welfare and Distribution Implications of Shale Gas”, natural gas production grew more than 25% between 2007 and 2013 driven by technology innovations in extraction (Figure 4). In

Cross, L. (2014, March 9). Trends and Challenges for the Oil and Gas Industry | Stout Risius Ross. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://www.srr.com/article/trends-and-challenges-oil-and-gas-industry.

Since the energy boom of the 1900’s, new technology has become available to tap into natural gas deposits that have been out of reach since the beginning of time. The technology called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for short, has erupted and could very well be the major economic boom of the century. “Hydraulic fracturing is a process that 's been used to extract oil and natural gas since it was first introduced by Standard Oil in the 1940s.” (Hassett and Mathur 2014) The original process used by standard oil caused the company to boom and grow putting the company all over the map. As of today, fracking technology has advanced to the point where a new form of hydraulic fracturing is now available. This new form is called horizontal

However, it is also significant to understand that the fracking industry has not only created more jobs relative to the drilling aspects, but it has also increased all related jobs to the industry such as requiring more truck drivers, manufacturers, and engineers (Arnold).

In 1848, James Marshall discovered a single nugget of gold in the American River in California, setting off a massive migration west as hundreds sought to capitalize upon the Gold Rush. Today, a similar situation is playing out. In the late 2000s, new technology enabled workers to extract natural gas from previously inaccessible shale deposits through horizontal hydraulic fracturing. This “shale boom” has had companies racing to capitalize upon the potential of vast natural gas and promises of energy independence and cheap energy. Yet, as the miners during the Gold Rush found upon arriving to California, scientists today are finding that many of the initial claims are not as they seemed. Companies are recklessly continuing, prospecting for natural gas deposits. Hydraulic fracturing is a means of extracting natural gas from deep, previously inaccessible shale deposits. It involves injecting a fracking cocktail mixture of water, sand, and various other chemical fluids into the ground at very high pressures to literally fracture the ground, releasing natural gas that can then be collected. Natural gas is a finite fossil fuel, yet due to the recent fracking boom, many people in the United States have heralded it as the future of America’s energy, the way to energy security.

“Rockefeller built an empire in a world without automobiles, finding profit by selling kerosene and lamp oil. By the turn of the century, the internal-combustion engine was generating demand for a new product: gasoline.”4 In comes the Lone Star State, to solve the worlds energy problem “Jan. 10, 1901, the modern American oil industry began on Spindletop Hill, south of Beaumont, Texas.”4 The big hill, located 4 miles south of Beaumont, Texas was formed millions of years ago with a giant underground dome made of salt. A man named Anthony Lucas from Austria, a former salt miner, was baffled at this big hill, which was actually only 12 feet high in elevation over the prairie lands. Lucas contacted some Pennsylvania oilmen for some help. The Pennsylvanian’s travel to Texas, surveyed a nice spot on the hill, and on October 27, 1900 the gusher was spudded. Spindletop had been drilled before, but never by a rotary drilling rig. Drilling is difficult at first. “There is little in the way of rock at the surface in that part of the world. Instead, oil wildcatters had to drill through several hundred feet of sand,”5 Due to the high sand content the well continually caved in, and one of the Pennsylvanians decided to try mud instead of water to help. This advancement changed the game for drilling, and is still used to drill wells today. The “Lucas Gusher” will erupt more than 150 feet into the air. It begins flowing at an astounding 100,000 barrels per day from a depth of 1,010

The United States consumes more energy than needed, compared to the rest of the world. However, to properly address such an issue as over consumption of energy, one first must understand what “energy” is.