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Rock River Minerals - What is Frac’ing?
Rock River Minerals | May 13, 2019
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called frac’ing, is a completion technique in oil and gas operations that uses a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemical additives to unlock hydrocarbon resources such as oil and gas. The frac’ing process is mainly used in shale formations, where tight underground rock structures make traditional methods of producing oil and gas uneconomic.
Frac’ing can be defined as a well stimulation process designed to maximize underground resource extraction. The process typically includes drilling a particular formation, casing the formation, completion or stimulating the well using water from the surface, producing the well, and disposing of waste from its operation. It is commonly used in conjunction with horizontal drilling to reach energy deposits that could not be accessed via traditional vertical drilling methods.
A Brief History of Frac’ing
While a basic form of frac’ing was in use as far back as the 1940s, the primary frac’ing technique in use today was popularized in the 1990s by Mitchell Energy in the Barnett Shale in North Texas. Prior to that, frac’ing generally involved the use of high-cost fluids instead of the high volumes of water utilized in the approach pioneered by Mitchell. By making water the main ingredient in the process, Mitchell was able to decrease completion costs by as much as 75% or more.
As word of Mitchell’s success with frac’ing in the Barnett spread, other oil and gas drillers started using the technique to explore other shale formations harboring significant hydrocarbon reserves. Frac’ing unlocked many energy-rich plays where resource extraction had previously been uneconomic.
How the Frac’ing Process Works
Generally speaking, completing an oil or gas well using frac’ing requires from five to 10 acres at the location of the well and a number of water tanks or storage ponds, along with millions of pounds of sand and millions of gallons of water. In addition, chemical additives are used to maximize the efficacy of the frac’ing process. The combination of water and chemicals used in frac’ing is known as “slickwater.”
When frac’ing is employed, a vertical well is initially drilled down to a depth of from one to two miles or greater. At this point, the well is encased in solid materials such as steel, cement, or both to avoid any leakage into nearby groundwater supplies. As the well extends deep enough to penetrate the layer of rock where hydrocarbon resources are found, it curves at an approximately 90-degree angle and drills horizontally into the energy-rich rock layer.
Once the well has been drilled and securely encased, fluid containing a mixture of water and proppants is pumped into the wellbore at high pressure, propelling the mixture into rock formations containing hydrocarbons. This procedure opens fractures in the rock through which oil and gas can flow into the wellbore.
Proppants most commonly consist of sand, but in more difficult formations requiring greater crush strength, ceramic and bauxite proppants may be used. The purpose of the proppants is to remain behind after the rock layer has been fractured and prop open those fractures so that the hydrocarbons can flow from the rock into the well once pumping pressure subsides.
The water used in the process may come from the location being drilled or may be trucked or piped in. The proppant-loaded fluid, or “flowback water,” flows back into the wellbore after doing its job. From there, it is often transported via truck to disposal wells, typically called saltwater disposal wells (SWDs), or in recent industry practices, is recycled for future use.
Innovations in Frac’ing
There have been a number of innovations in hydraulic fracturing in recent years, driven by environmental concerns as well as by the need to improve efficiency in the face of falling prices for oil and gas. These innovations encompass improved water treatment processes and greater drilling lengths both vertically and laterally as well as improved completion designs which have boosted fracture stages between each cluster stage and the number of fractures along the well as a whole.
One benefit of innovations which improve the ability to treat flowback water is a reduction in the amount of freshwater needed in the frac’ing process. Another innovation, developed by oil services firm Schlumberger, is to add fibers to the proppants mix to improve their ability to hold rock fractures open, thereby enabling greater hydrocarbon flow over a longer period of time. The method is called “HIWAY” by Schlumberger.
Oil services major Halliburton has developed a system known as “RapidFrac” that places specialized pipe fittings into a recently drilled well. Once in the well, the pipes can be set to work the well based on its particular characteristics, increasing the volume of oil and gas that can be drilled.
Frac’ing and Mineral Owners
The development of frac’ing as a viable method for extracting hydrocarbon resources has provided an opportunity for mineral owners to capitalize on resources that were previously considered too difficult, or expensive, to extract. Shale formations with tight, low permeability rock formations can be now be cost effectively harvested for oil and gas, significantly increasing the value of such properties.
Regulation of drilling methods has historically been subject to state control, meaning that owners of land containing accessible mineral resources need to be cognizant of their state’s rules with regard to frac’ing. If frac’ing is allowed on their property, owners will also want to consider other issues such as the source of the water to be used in the process. Most leases enable the drilling company to access fresh water sources on the property being drilled. Another consideration is what will be done with the flowback water, which must be stored separately from other water sources and treated before it can be reused.
Also, given the ability of horizontal drilling techniques to drain oil and gas from a wide area around a single well pad, it is important that mineral owners review any proposed lease to understand the area that will be covered by the drilling process.
Impact of Frac’ing on Energy Production
The rise of frac’ing as a method for accessing previously unreachable oil and gas deposits has revolutionized energy production in the United States. The unlocking of substantial new supplies of hydrocarbon resources has helped keep energy prices in check and powered oil and gas production in the U.S. to new heights. As a result, oil production in the country has risen faster than at any previous period in history.
The windfall of energy resources unearthed by frac’ing has enabled the U.S. to start exporting oil and LNG to other countries. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that, due to the frac’ing revolution, approximately 80% of global growth in oil production through 2025 is slated to come from the U.S.
Another impact of frac’ing has been the increasing use of natural gas to provide electricity in place of dirtier energy sources such as coal. As a result, carbon emissions from the electricity sector have dropped to the lowest level in approximately three decades as new natural gas plants have come on-line.
The Future of Frac’ing
With demand for oil and gas increasing globally, the future of frac’ing appears bright. Environmental concerns have limited the technique’s use in some countries and states, but technological innovation has provided new ways to lessen frac’ing’s impact on the environment. Processes for dealing with contaminants in flowback water have helped limit the risk of water contamination, while innovations designed to improve the efficiency of the process have continued to expand the scope of accessible resources.
Another factor driving innovation has been the decline in the price of oil and gas in recent years, which has forced drillers to find ways to operate more efficiently. Advances in this area have enabled continued use of frac’ing even at lower price points. This enhanced efficiency, coupled with improvements in employing the technique in an environmentally responsible manner, paves the way for expanded use of hydraulic fracturing going forward.
About The Author
Joseph Bernard Flusche III is responsible for monitoring, managing and optimizing vertical and horizontal wells for leases across tens of thousands of acres. Prior to joining Piedra in 2019, he was a petroleum engineer with PT Petroleum where he managed production over a 65,000-acre lease as well as personnel in the field. Mr. Flusche earned a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University and has spent the past four years growing his industry expertise in numerous positions in and out of the field.
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The Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico has rapidly become the largest source of new oil reserves in the United States. Drilling activity in the region is dominated by hydraulic fracturing, or frac’ing, which enables operators to access previously unreachable hydrocarbon resources located in tight shale rock formations. The tremendous upsurge in oil and gas drilling in the Permian has created challenges for operators in the region due to the difficulties they can face acquiring sufficient supplies of water for drilling and in managing the “produced water” generated by the drilling process. Frac’ing involves injecting large amounts of water, along with proppants such as sand and some chemical additives, into shale rock formations, opening up fractures to release the trapped oil and gas found there. A single frac’d well, on average, can use from 500,000 to 700,000 barrels of water – equal to more than 21 million gallons. As production continues to expand in the Basin, operators tend to use larger drilling pads to serve multiple wells, as well as extend lateral lengths to improve well yields. These tactics increase the demand for supplying, transferring, storing, and maintaining water at the location of each pad.
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called frac’ing, is a completion technique in oil and gas operations that uses a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemical additives to unlock hydrocarbon resources such as oil and gas. The frac’ing process is mainly used in shale formations, where tight underground rock structures make traditional methods of producing oil and gas uneconomic. Frac’ing can be defined as a well stimulation process designed to maximize underground resource extraction. The process typically includes drilling a particular formation, casing the formation, completion or stimulating the well using water from the surface, producing the well, and disposing of waste from its operation. It is commonly used in conjunction with horizontal drilling to reach energy deposits that could not be accessed via traditional vertical drilling methods.
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