Hello guys! Today we're going to talk about advantages and disadvantages of hydraulic fracturing.
Hydraulic fracturing is a very effective method for increasing the production from
low permeability formations such as shale. It's done by pumping a mixture of fluid, chemicals
and sand at high pressure into the wellbore to create small fractures that help hydrocarbons
to flow more easily into the wellbore. Unfortunately, this method is often misunderstood
and today we're going to take a look at the main pros and cons of hydraulic fracturing.
First, let's take a look at the advantage of hydraulic fracturing. The number one advantage
is that it helps to increase the production from oil and gas wells. Shale formations have very low
permeability and hydrocarbons are trapped in small pores in shale rock. Creating small fractures
in the shale helps those hydrocarbons to escape and flow into the wellbore
which increases the production from the well. The second advantage of hydraulic
fracturing is that it provides jobs. Everyone from oil workers to restaurants and
hotels gain something when there is a boom in fracking activity. The same goes for provinces
and states that usually see increased revenue from taxes and royalties. The third advantage of
hydraulic fracturing is that it helps us to decrease the dependence on foreign oil. It allows us to decrease
the amount of oil we import from other countries with unstable governments and also helps us to
prevent any interruptions in those imports. Importing hydrocarbons from other countries
usually generates a lot of greenhouse gases because of the fuel burned which is required
for transporting the hydrocarbons from one country to the other. In addition, not every country has a
responsible approach when it comes to the oil and gas development and the fourth advantage
of hydraulic fracturing is that natural gas is a cleaner fuel than coal. Natural gas produced
during fracturing operations is environmentally friendly alternative to coal that is used on many
power plants. If we could switch all the power plants in the world that use coal right now to
natural gas we will see a significant decrease in greenhouse gases right away. An even better
approach that some companies are working on is to capture all the CO2 created when natural
natural gas is burned and then use the CO2 for something or inject it back into formation.
This way you don't release any carbon dioxide into the environment.
Now let's take a look at some of the disadvantages hydraulic fracturing
and the first one is the potential for small earthquakes. The main fear the public has about
hydraulic fracturing is that it can create earthquakes potentially. Most critics of the
fracturing reference the statistic that shows that in areas with the high frac activities
there is an increase in the number of minor earthquakes in the past several years.
However, it's also possible that having a lot of small earthquakes that we cannot even
feel can help us to prevent a bigger one by slowly releasing the energy from two plates that are
pushing against each other in the earth. Next advantage of hydraulic fracturing is the high water consumption.
Hydraulic fracturing usually requires a lot of water but fortunately most of the water used
for fracturing is recovered during the flowback and then it's reused again for other fracturing
operations. Also advances in technologies and frac methods like for example annular frac with coiled
tubing and shifting sleeves helps to significantly decrease the amount of fluid required for the job.
The third disadvantage of hydraulic flushing is noise. Fracturing requires a lot of
pumps and sand tracks and this can create quite a bit of noise. Fortunately most of the
frac operations happen in remote areas and noise pollutions don't really affect anybody.
Some companies are also starting to experiment with electrical fleets that operate at much lower
noise levels than conventional frac pumps and trucks and the last disadvantage of hydraulic
fracturing that we're going to take a look at is the remote potential of contamination of
groundwater. During the fracking process chemicals are used to kill bacteria in water,
decrease pumping pressures and increase viscosity. Additionally sometimes radioactive
tracers with a very short half-life are used to get a better understanding of a fracturing process
and there is a very remote chance that something goes wrong during the operation and the frac fluid
enters the groundwaters. However, fracking is usually done a few kilometers underground and it is highly
unlikely that the contamination might ever occur. There is also a trend in the industry towards using
greener chemicals or non-toxic versions of chemicals. So guys these are the main pros and cons
of hydraulic fracturing and most of the disadvantages hydraulic fracturing can be avoided by
proper frac job design, better regulations, and using the right chemicals. If you guys learned
something new in this video please don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you guys later. Bye!