A crisis in global energy consumption has been increasingly discussed in many world energy forums which concern in the diminishing of fossil fuel and natural gas. Consequently, the US government has attempted to seek a new resource to serve the global energy demand (SHAFIEE, 2009). The natural gas from shale formation, abundant resources in US, has been discovered for a long time but there is no efficient method to extract the natural gas from this formation. Moreover, the route to convey the large amount of shale gas is one of our challenge that must be safe for human and environment, and it should be a low cost technique as well (ARMOR, 2013). Furthermore, the impact of shale gas revolution should be realized in a consequence of local protesters at the drilling sites or people who are directly affected from the extraction projects. Therefore, the aims of this project are to describe the most feasible technique and the future prospects in natural gas from shale formation.
Background and Significance
In a few decades, global natural gas demand has still sharply grown up every year. The world’s crude oil and natural gas reserves are usually the main resources for energy consumptions in our world. Consequently, the total amount of these reserves has been significantly regarded by the leading industrial countries (WANG, 2014). US government, especially, is the first leader who has attempted to seek the new energy resources for the American energy consumption (Fig. 1). Although
The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,
In 2011, the United States produced 8.5 million cubic feet of natural gas, a value of nearly $36 billion, from shale gas alone. As a result, the U.S. is now the world’s top manufacturer of natural gas. Imported gases compose merely 8 percent of total natural gas consumption in the United States. Since America does not rely on imported gas, the United States has balanced it trade as the U.S. domestic supply has grown to meet its demand. Business magnate T. Boone Pickens stated, “Natural gas is the best transportation fuel. It is better than gasoline or diesel. It is cleaner, it is cheaper, and it is domestic. Natural gas is 97% domestic fuel.”
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
Natural gas exploration began in the late 1940s’ to extract the natural gas located in underground reserves. The process consisted of digging a vertical well into the ground to release gas trapped in relatively
The United States consumes more than 25% of the world’s petroleum products which is a large percentage, considering only 3% of the world’s oil reserves are produced by the United States. Given the demand for petroleum products such as gasoline, understanding why Crude oil prices have skyrocketed in recent years, is not hard. According to the article “Ending America’s Oil Addiction,” the surge in crude oil prices can be reduced in large part to the simple concepts of supply and demand. (Cooper, 2008)
Officials in the Obama administration are nearly ready to unveil their unprecedented regulation of the oil and gas industries by ordering the reduction of methane emissions in the United States by 40 to 45 percent within the next ten years. Such a drastic alteration would significantly change how natural gas is produced and consumed and transform the entire electric industry in the country, potentially shifting its reliance on fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. Though methane constitutes only nine percent of emissions, far less than carbon dioxide, it has over twenty times the effect toward global warming as carbon dioxide has and is therefore important to regulate. Also, the Obama administration has initiated reductions in emission
The Marcellus Shale formation located in western Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio is projected to supply an equivalent of 45 years of the United States current energy consumption. Worth an estimated five hundred billion, this can translate into cheaper and wider “variety of products such as plastic, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals.” It can also relate to an “increase [in] the supply of fertilizer, ensuring the availability of food and reducing…the conversion of forests to agricultural farms” (Sovacool 252). The fracking industry will only increase in size in future years, so much so that reclamation of shale gas is called the “eminent shale gas revolution. British Petroleum [BP], for instance, expects global shale gas
The Eagle Ford shale formation in south Texas has recently become the focus of many oil industry operators searching for new sources of hydrocarbons by using the latest technology in previously unexplored areas. This exploration enhances the development of even more advanced techniques as issues are identified and problems solved to address the unique properties of the formation and the surrounding surface environment. Even though a formation may be comprised of a single sedimentary layer from a similar geological time frame it is not a homogeneous block and has many features and anomalies that effect the pressure, permeability, type of hydrocarbons trapped and methods required to extract them. To understand these properties one must understand that shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that forms from the compaction of silt and clay placing it in the mudstone category of rocks [1]. Shale is different from other rocks in this category because it has a fissile structure and is laminated. The black shale in the Eagle Ford formation (Fig 1.) has a special property such that it contained organic material when it was deposited and during compaction over a millennium, the organic materials were converted into trapped oil and gas hydrocarbon deposits. This oil and gas are very difficult to remove because it is trapped within tiny pore spaces and or adsorbed onto clay mineral particles that makeup the shale.
Since the 19th century, natural gas has been able to be extracted from deposits that are shallow (Schmidt 2013). Just recently, horizontal fracking has become a cost effective option to collect natural gas in shale deposits. This development has caused a boom in the fracking industry. In fact, “in 2010 shale gas contributed 23% of domestic natural gas production, compared with 2% in 2000” (Schmidt 2013). Horizontal fracking involves pumping a mixture of water and chemicals deep underground in order to fracture shale, thus releasing natural gas trapped therein.
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
While improving production rates, safety and methods have improved to lessen environmental impacts. The contents of fracking solution is the basis for much debate and one of the main concerns for many. However, fracking fluid is not the only questionable aspect of fracking, included is land and infrastructure degradation, physiological harm to local citizens, utilization of legislation loopholes, and the secrecy of fracking fluid formulas within the industry. Due to the many possible hazards of the fracking process, it has initiated much political discussion at the state and federal levels of government, while inciting concern of local citizens. Fracking is not the cleanest alternative to oil reclamation, but has improved drastically with the introduction of hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is an extremely controversial topic, raising concerns of safety and of economic feasibility by both affected or non-affected citizens and members of government. Nonetheless, the negative attributes of fracking, such as fracking fluid dispersal and other environmental issues are outweighed by the vast economic gains and can be mitigated by a system of regulations and development of new technologies for the industry.
In the U.S., the advanced hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling lead to a revolution of natural gas and oil, brining about the dynamic job opportunities and economic growth which affects other industries apart from natural gas and oil field. As a superpower of energy, the United States can make good use of its rich resources with the correct policies and build a bright future for Americans and reduce energy-caused risks globally (Mark Green, 2014).
Marcellus Shale, also known, as the Marcellus Formation, is black, organically rich, shale that exists underneath the surface of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia. The shale is located roughly one mile below the surface of these states and has an estimated 141 trillion cubic feet of attainable natural gas. As of 2015, Marcellus shale gas wells were reportedly yielding 14.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (“Marcellus Shale - Appalachian Basin Natural Gas Play”). This shale discovery is known as one of the largest natural gas reserves in the United States, and this underground gas is now reachable thanks to hydraulic fracturing and horizontally drilling. These two techniques, when used in combination, have enabled gas producers to extract shale gas both rapidly and economically” (“The Marcellus Shale Gas Boom”). Although, there are many myths and disagreements with the way America gets this natural gas, it has proven to have more advantages than disadvantages.
This process is significantly different than conventional well drilling because wells are able to reach greater depths and span horizontally, the entire reservoir containing the shale oil. Another difference from conventional drilling is that one frack job requires millions of gallons of fresh water and chemically enhanced fracking fluid to complete. Because of the chemicals pumped into the ground and the fissures caused in the rocks, there has been major issues on the regulations involving fracking and the environmental impact and if and where it should be allowed.History Of Fracking Hydraulic fracking was discovered in the 1940's, but because of the large investments required to successfully drill a well, efficient production has not been seen until recent years. Due to this fact, the US relied on outside countries to import natural gas because it was significantly cheaper. It wasn't until the 1980's when horizontal drilling technologies were discovered that reduced the price of fracking significantly ("1997 Annual Report - Horizontal
Natural gas is a rapidly growing section of the economy. With a recent boom in production, more people are putting a focus on the resource. Although it has been around for centuries, it is relatively new in terms of mass production and shipment, especially in mainstream American attention. 2008 saw a rapid growth in both production and price, which expanded the economy in many small towns throughout the United States. But, only a few years later, the price dropped while production did not, and the decline started. Now, natural gas production is in a state of surplus, with some reports stating that prices will remain low. But, with the push towards diversified energy portfolios and renewables, the test is to see if natural gas can