What is Hydraulic Fracturing?
Hydraulic fracturing is a force that opens fissures in subterranean rocks by injecting liquids (primarily water with sand or other man-made ceramic materials) at high pressure. This process is especially used to extract oil or gas from deep rock formations.
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Hydraulic fracturing produces fractures in the rock formation that stimulate the flow of natural gas or oil, increasing the volumes that can be recovered.
How does Hydraulic Fracturing work?
Fractures are created by pumping large quantities of fluid at high pressure down a wellbore (a drilled hole to aid in the extraction of natural resources) and into the target rock formation. Hydraulic fracturing fluid commonly consists of water, proppant, and chemical additives that open and enlarge fractures within the rock formation. These fractures can extend several hundred feet away from the wellbore.
Once the injection process is completed, the internal pressure of the rock formation causes fluid to return to the surface through the wellbore. This fluid is known as both "flowback" and "produced water" and contains the injected chemicals plus naturally occurring materials such as brines, metals, radionuclides, and hydrocarbons. Hydraulic fracturing is a technique that is commonly used to stimulate hydrocarbon production by creating a network of highly conductive fractures in the area surrounding a wellbore.
Why does Hydraulic Fracturing matter?
In combination with horizontal drilling and other technological advances, hydraulic fracturing has allowed for the extraction of large, previously inaccessible reserves of gas such as shale and tight gas as well as oil in the United States.
