Shale Gas : An Exploration Depth Analysis

The American energy revolution, otherwise known as The "Shale Gas Revolution," is described as being the big change in the ways in which we get our oil. In other words, it is a way of making the longevity of the oil we use as energy last just a little bit longer. The conventional oil we extract from the ground is rapidly running out, fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is another way to get more oil out of the ground from less. Much of the oil we have left on Earth is trapped in shale rocks beneath the surface, not easily retrieved. These rocks are impermeable making it difficult to get to the oil enclosed inside. By the use of fracking, which opens up these rocks in order to let the natural gas and crude oil inside flow out, we increase the time in which we have oil left in the Earth, to use this valuable fossil fuel. According to Gold, in 2008 it was a small energy firm located in Canada that was first to administer a report entitled "The Shale Gas Revolution," which took to its supporters and is now used commonly. Gold believes in the revolution because he recognizes that the old ways of extracting the oil are crumbling, coal is no longer the major source of energy for making electricity, and a big change is occurring (Gold, 2014).

When you woke up today chances are you turned on a light, used the stove, drove a car, or charged your cell phone. The energy used to power those devices was powered by hydrocarbons like natural gas or oil. Natural gas and oil are accessed by drilling, but drilling can 't always reach all the potential hydrocarbons. There are many pockets full of oil and gas below the surface trapped in between shale rock that typical drilling can 't access. What this means is there is a plethora of energy beneath our nation just waiting to be tapped. Enter, fracking.

Shale gas is defined by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) as natural gas that is trapped within shale formations. Shale formations are geologic formations that contain hydrocarbon mixtures that naturally form an

Do you consider soup a meal or do you consider it a starter? The Seinfeld episode “The Soup” starts with an open monologue where Jerry Seinfeld is on stage at a comedy show. Jerry says, “You have a close friend, and they get involved with someone in a relationship. " It affects your friendship, doesn’t it? Because it's like you were a comedy team and now there’s a third person, it kind of throws off the timing.”

Shale is found in many colors but those that are very dark or black contain oil and gas. Conventional drillers look for pools of oil and gas above shale rock. “The oil and natural gas migrated out of the shale and upwards through the sediment mass because of their low density. The oil and gas were often trapped within the pore spaces of an overlying rock unit such as sandstone. These types of oil and gas deposits are known as "conventional reservoirs" because the fluids can easily flow through the pores of the rock and into the extraction well”. (Geology.com King) Conventional drilling into shale has declined because those conventional supplies are disappearing and drilling companies have known this for quite some time. They also know that more oil and gas can be extracted. Geology.com’s Hobart King provides this insight. “Although drilling can extract large amounts of oil and natural gas from the reservoir rock, much of it remains trapped within the shale. This oil and gas is very difficult to remove because it is trapped within tiny pore spaces or adsorbed onto clay mineral particles that make-up the shale. In the late 1990s natural gas drilling companies developed new methods for liberating oil and natural gas that is trapped within the tiny pore spaces of shale. This discovery was significant because it unlocked some of the largest natural gas deposits in the world” (King Geology.com). The site goes on to provide this outlook for fracking oil

When people hear the word oil it is commonly interpreted as gas, but the oil that we drill is not what goes into our cars. The oil that is retrieved from the ground is called crude oil, Oil in its raw natural form and when it becomes refined it is used in plastics, rubber, and gasoline. ”Gasoline is a volatile, flammable liquid obtained from the refinement of petroleum, or crude oil. It was originally discarded as a byproduct of kerosene production.” The first oil well was found and harvested in Titusville, Pennsylvania by a man named Edwin L. Drake, in 1859. The well was about 70 feet deep (How gas). It pumped between 20-40 barrels a day

Drilling and fracking allow greenhouse gases to be emitted into the atmosphere (Fracking is Harmful to the Environment). Some greenhouse gases exist naturally are significant in keeping the planet habitable (Fracking is Harmful to the Environment). At natural levels, greenhouse gases capture and absorb energy from solar radiation and release the remaining energy back to space (Fracking is Harmful to the Environment). Fracking requires large amounts of water mixed with sand and toxic chemicals to crack rock and release gas and oil (Fracking is Harmful to the Environment). “Increased development of shale gas may actually accelerate climate change because large amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that makes up more than 90 percent of shale gas, leak during fracking” (Fracking is Harmful to the Environment). Fracking releases greenhouse gases that impact the climate

The water mixture used to break the shale rock contains sand as well as over 600 different chemicals. The amount of water needed just for one gas well to take place is over eight million gallons. Not only do these natural gas wells use up so much water, the methane gas and chemicals in the water contaminate nearby groundwater, causing the people who drink it to become very ill and suffer serious mental and physical injuries. Most of these companies who are in the business of drilling gas wells do not show what really goes on behind the scenes. The leftover fracturing fluid, which are retrieved after the fracking, is only half of what first went down the well. Not only is this a problem because the chemicals that are left sink further down into the ground but they are also not biodegradable, which could go on to contaminate more

These reserves are found within shale formations. Shale is a sedimentary rock that is very low in permeability and porousness making it difficult to tap the gas and oil held within the formations. Due to the combination of fracking and new drilling technology, the production of natural oil and gas has constantly increased every year since 2006. In the year 1990, America reached a height of natural gas and oil production, producing about 70.706 quadrillion BTU of energy but that number would begin to decrease steadily due to the scarcity of acquiring natural gas and oil. In 2006 the production of energy was 69.443 quadrillion BTU. Accordingly, in 2010 fracking became popular and the production level reached 74.812 quadrillion BTU of energy. By 2011, the production of energy increased to 78.091 quadrillion BTU. The domestic production of natural gas and oil had a large contribution towards this growth. With this increase in production, the United states became the second largest natural gas producer in 2011.The European Union which is the third highest producer of natural gas and oil produced only about a quarter of natural gas and oil compared to that produced in the United

Oil Drilling has many effects on the environment from the air we breathe to the oceans that inhabit many species. While one of the outcomes of oil drilling is money, it is forgotten that money won’t help repair all of the damage that is done to mother nature. Not only does the outcome of drilling for fossil fuels affect the oceans, rainforest, etc. it also has an effect on local business’ and the health of humans. If people want change, they need to be the

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.

There is a lot of controversy over the new practice of getting to fresh natural gas stored in the shale under our feet. The process has been named hydraulic fracturing, and as you can imagine, it involves water (hydro) and breaking stuff (fracking). The results that many people have been experiencing close to where this technique is used seem to be having

In 2000, shale beds where the number one source of America’s constant need for gas. Most of that production increase has come about to the growing need of hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking”, which is a process used to release oil or gas from underground formations that are otherwise too hard to mine with other tools. Over the past few years, advances in fracking technology have made huge reserves of natural gas in America economically recoverable. According to the Energy Information Administration, shale gas plays, or fields, in the United States, most notably the Marcellus, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York, and the Barnett, in Texas, are said to contain enough natural gas to give power to the country for a hundred and ten years. With the everlasting specter of energy independence, some have argued that such efforts to recover natural gas need to be expanded. Activists concerned with fracking’s potential environmental hazards view the new process as a serious threat to our environment. There are many different opinions on wether or not fracking is a safe way to gain our gasoline, and to meet the growing demands of gasoline around the world. The process of fracking creates cracks that come from wells into oil and gas formations by pumping highly pressurized fluids, ceramic beads, sand, and a mixture of chemicals, into the gas formation. As this fluid holds the underground fissures open, oil and gas fly up the well to the surface where they are

Environmentalists are one the biggest critics against the notion of increasing domestic oil drilling. By increasing the amount of drilling we do in the United States, we increase the risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Disasters are hardly the only source of economic damage either, to find oil reserves under the ocean, seismic waves are generated into the ground. These waves bounce off the ground back up to the ship, where computers and scientist can use the results to make educated guesses on whether or not oil is located under the surface. These seismic waves can wreak havoc with marine animals like whales; where in one case over 100 whales beached themselves to get away from the painful experience (Nixon). Using seismic waves does not even guarantee that oil might be located underneath the surface, the only way to tell is to actually drill into the potential finds causing even more destruction for what might be for no gain. Once oil is found and drilling has begun, the amount of damage done to the environment can become unimaginable. The recent example is that of the Deepwater

Oil and gas drilling seems to be a dirty business. The reason I say this is because people don’t really think about what would happen to the wilderness when oil and gas drilling moves in. The First thing we tend to observe is the disruption of wildlife migration routes and habitats from the noise, pollution, traffic, and fences. Mammal migration is a really important factor for its survival. With all this fencing and infrastructure going on it will ultimately cut off their route at key passages, threatening their survival as a species. In addition, Wild mammals and birds can avoid noises to an extent, but studies show that these behaviors become habituated. This usually impacts the songbird communication in breeding and nesting season. Secondly, the oil spills that occur on both land and offshore drilling sites. Oil operations on land require drilling fluids that are injected into the wellbore to lubricate the drilling bit. These fluids are supposedly to be captured in the line pits for disposal, but most of the time they are