There has never been a better time to invest money in oil. The United States is experiencing a boom in shale oil and gas exploration and production. In fact, thanks to rich reserves of oil and gas held deep within fine-grained shale rock formations, the United States has gone from being a net importer of oil to the top oil producer, ahead even of Russia and Saudi Arabia. Being an oil and gas investor Brookshire Salt Dome would have already paid off. So far, ten million barrels of oil have been extracted.
Novel technologies in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have opened up vast reserves of gas and oil that have been hitherto trapped inside the close-grained shale rock deposits deep beneath Texas, Oklahoma and much of New England. Extracting it involves drilling a horizontal hole, laying perforated pipe and blasting holes into the rock.
A single hydraulic fracturing project can require anywhere from three to thirty or more million gallons of water. Sand is used to prop the fractures open so that the gas and oil can flow out of the rocks and through the pipes to the surface. Multiply that volume of water by the tens of thousands of projects that are anticipated, and you can see why developing new technologies is so important.
High volume frac water management involves developing new skills and technologies, all of which require investment and all of which are expected to pay nice returns. Once the fracturing process is complete, all the water that went into the ground must come out of the ground. Added to that is something called "produced water." This is water that was already present within the rock beneath the Earth's surface.
Produced water can amount to anywhere between three and eight times or more the volume that is pumped under pressure into the ground in order to create the fractures. Some of it is recycled, some of it is transferred into rapid evaporation pits to minimize the amount that has to be transported off site. The remainder is injected, sometimes at high pressures, into wastewater disposal wells.
What cannot be disposed of in one of these means is injected into disposal wells. It is this "produced" water injected into the disposal wells, and not the fracturing process, that has people understandably concerned about the generation of earthquakes. Scientists at the US Geological Survey in Pasadena have been studying what are colloquially known as "frackquakes" in Oklahoma.
Scientists with the USGS have established that there is definitely a link between injecting water into disposal wells and associated seismic activity. Another problem with frac water management is the prospect of contaminating public water supplies. There have been reports of people igniting fires under their taps.
Oil and gas investor Brookshire Salt Dome and other productive shale formations have been of huge benefit to the country. The continental United States are sitting on enough fuel to comfortably supply our needs for the next 90 years. Side benefits will be the development of new frac water management and recycling technologies which will be beneficial in their own right.
Novel technologies in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have opened up vast reserves of gas and oil that have been hitherto trapped inside the close-grained shale rock deposits deep beneath Texas, Oklahoma and much of New England. Extracting it involves drilling a horizontal hole, laying perforated pipe and blasting holes into the rock.
A single hydraulic fracturing project can require anywhere from three to thirty or more million gallons of water. Sand is used to prop the fractures open so that the gas and oil can flow out of the rocks and through the pipes to the surface. Multiply that volume of water by the tens of thousands of projects that are anticipated, and you can see why developing new technologies is so important.
High volume frac water management involves developing new skills and technologies, all of which require investment and all of which are expected to pay nice returns. Once the fracturing process is complete, all the water that went into the ground must come out of the ground. Added to that is something called "produced water." This is water that was already present within the rock beneath the Earth's surface.
Produced water can amount to anywhere between three and eight times or more the volume that is pumped under pressure into the ground in order to create the fractures. Some of it is recycled, some of it is transferred into rapid evaporation pits to minimize the amount that has to be transported off site. The remainder is injected, sometimes at high pressures, into wastewater disposal wells.
What cannot be disposed of in one of these means is injected into disposal wells. It is this "produced" water injected into the disposal wells, and not the fracturing process, that has people understandably concerned about the generation of earthquakes. Scientists at the US Geological Survey in Pasadena have been studying what are colloquially known as "frackquakes" in Oklahoma.
Scientists with the USGS have established that there is definitely a link between injecting water into disposal wells and associated seismic activity. Another problem with frac water management is the prospect of contaminating public water supplies. There have been reports of people igniting fires under their taps.
Oil and gas investor Brookshire Salt Dome and other productive shale formations have been of huge benefit to the country. The continental United States are sitting on enough fuel to comfortably supply our needs for the next 90 years. Side benefits will be the development of new frac water management and recycling technologies which will be beneficial in their own right.
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