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The extraction of natural gas requires a borehole which is dug down to the deep shale formation. After the hole is dug, a steel pipe is inserted into the borehole where it is encased with cement on the outer perimeter of the pipe. A perforation gun is lowered into the cement-encased piping. Using an explosive, the perforation gun perforates the casing and puts initial fractures into the shale at targeted locations. The shale is fractured further by inserting fracking fluids, which consists of 98% water and sand, plus 2% proprietary fluids. The fracking fluids are pushed down into the wellbore and pressurized to 3000 psi causing the initial fracture to spread in the shale, along the shale natural fracture lines. The sand in the fracking fluids keeps the created fractures open which allows the gas from the shale pores to flow into the casing and then to the surface, where it is collected.

Once the well reaches the right depth, it turns right or left and becomes horizontal. This is called the kick off point. The horizontal section can span anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 feet. The drill is removed but the surrounding steel casing remains. These steel casings are meant to protect the groundwater and the surrounding area from any potential leakage during the fracking process. Down at the horizontal section of the well, little holes are punctured through the steel in thousands of spots. Then, a water solution is pumped at a extremely high pressure down the well. This causes tons of cracks and fissures in the rock. Additives and sand in the water mixture hold the cracks open, allowing oil to escape and be brought up to the surface.

Complete this week’s lab by filling in your responses to the questions from Geoscience Laboratory. Select answers are provided for you in red font to assist you with your lab work. Although you are only required to respond to the questions in this worksheet, you are encouraged to answer others from the text on your own.

A process for retrieving natural gas from 7,000 feet below the earth’s surface has caused environmental concerns. Hydrofracking has been around since the 40’s but wasn’t until the 90’s where technology allowed for a vertical drill to drill horizontally into shall deep below the surface creating several bores and accessing hundreds of acres of shale. Hydrofarcking comes with its controversy, some argue that it is contaminating water sources and creating environmental concerns, while others say there is no proof of this despite many studies.

Philip H. Siegel, Augusta State University, USA David P. Franz, San Francisco State University, USA John O’Shaughnessy, San Francisco State University, USA

Complete this week’s lab by filling in your responses to the questions from Geoscience Laboratory. Select answers are provided for you in red font to assist you with your lab work. Although you are only required to respond to the questions in this worksheet, you are encouraged to answer others from the text on your own.

With the age of constant industrial and technological growth has come the necessity for not only cost effective and efficient methods for industry, but also the need for obtaining fuel for the machines that make the modern world possible. Oil has become as precious a commodity as gold, if not more so; its attainments constantly driving the world's largest businesses and governments across the world into action. Naturally, a "quick-fix" solution to this problem is constantly sought after by oil companies wishing to provide oil on a massive scale. One of these drilling methods is known as induced hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking).

After this, small holes are made in the horizontal bit of the well pipe, through which a mixture of water (90 percent), sand (9.5 percent) and other chemicals (0.5 percent) are pumped at high pressure to create micro-fractures in the rock that are held open by the grains of sand. The other chemicals play a number of roles, including helping to prevent pipe corrosion, this is a great

Morris, J., & Song, L. (2013, September 16). Study Delivers Good News, Bad News on

Hydraulic fracturing is a process of collecting natural gas by pressurizing shale beds. Fracking consists of two components: a drill and fracturing fluids [4]. Well shafts are drilled into a bed of shale less than two thousand feet deep to form a horizontal fracture because less force is required to make the rock strata buckle perpendicularly to the drill [2]. After the primary shaft has been drilled, cement is poured into the surrounding area to keep the fracturing fluids from backtracking up the shaft [2]. Once the drill is placed into the pay zone, where the reservoir of oil is located, fracturing fluids are forced into the surrounding

Over the years vertical hydraulic fracturing has become outdated and new techniques are now used. Technology now allows mechanics to drill horizontally up to 10,000 feet. This new technique only takes a single drill and it can hold multiple piping lines and have them extending out in all directions at once. This allows more area of production to be covered in less surface area. With horizontal fracking, theoretically, the amount of area that can be covered is indefinite because more and more piping can be added if needed in the making of just one

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.

The first step in hydraulic fracturing is drilling the actual well and then inserting a steel pipe into the wellbore. The steel pipe is pierced so that the fluid that is pushed through can penetrate into the target zones where the oil or gas is located ("Hydraulic Fracturing 101," n.d.). These kinds of wells can be drilled thousands of feet below

In today’s society the issues of producing energy is becoming more and more scare which, constantly posses the question, “How will energy be obtained in order to sustain future generations?” Hydraulic fracturing, informally known as fracking is believed to be an effective alternative to provide us with the energy we need to fuel tomorrow. Hydraulic fracking was first used at Texas Stanolind Oil and Gas Cooperations in 1947. However, it was not until 1949 that The Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Cooperation was given a licensee to use hydraulic fracturing. Since then a combination of two advanced methods have been introduced and incorporated (4). These methods are slick-water hydraulic fracturing and precision drilling of wells. Nevertheless,

As we become increasingly technologically complex, humans are becoming more and more reliant on energy. This energy is used for gasoline, heating and electricity among many others. Acquiring energy is very important but acquiring this energy in the most environmentally friendly way is even more important. There are various methods used when obtaining natural gas but one of the most controversial ways is through the process of hydraulic fracturing. The idea of Hydraulic fracturing or Fracking dates back to 1866 when inventor Col. E.A.L. Roberts lowered a torpedo to the bottom of a well, filled the well with water and the detonated the charge. The weight of the water forced an explosion and oil began to gush out. Modern