18
produced oil. The operation itself was rather simple, so unlicensed practitioners
took to dropping dynamite or sometimes just pouring straight nitroglycerine into
wells to achieve the same effect. Roberts responded by hiring Pinkerton detectives
and an army of lawyers to enforce his patent. The freelancers began working at
night without lanterns to avoid being seen by the Pinkertons, using only moonlight
to illuminate their operations. Fumbling around in the dark with nitroglycerin was
extremely dangerous, as many learned the hard way. Some contemporary advice
urged that before attempting this task, practitioners should both update their will
and procure an empty cigar box for their grieving families to gather up the remains.
Besides being much safer, Farris’ hydraulic fractures were superior because they
extended a crack far into the rock unit, creating long, high permeability flowpaths
that could return substantial amounts of oil and gas to the well. Farris and Stanolind
Oil received a patent for hydraulic fracturing in 1949, and Stanolind promptly sold
the process to the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company. It was offered as a
service by Halliburton that same year, and the first commercial hydraulic fracturing
operations were performed on wells in Duncan, Oklahoma and Holliday, Texas in
1949 using Farris’ technique with oil-based fluids (Fisher 2010). Halliburton developed the modern, water-based method of hydraulic fracturing in 1953 (Montgomery
and Smith 2010).
Hydraulic fracturing is an engineering process known as “reservoir stimulation,”
which seeks to improve the recovery of hydrocarbons from a reservoir rock by making it easier for the fluids to move (Economides and Nolte 2000). The goal of hydraulic fracturing is to contact large volumes of reservoir rock with permeable flowpaths
that allow oil and gas to flow to a well. A second type of reservoir stimulation is
known as matrix stimulation, which restores permeability to the rock near a borehole that has suffered formation damage during the drilling process. It typically uses
acid treatments to dissolve out the mud and cement material plugging the pores, or
to create new holes through the matrix to bypass the damaged zone (Economides
and Nolte 2000). Reservoir stimulation is part of the “completion” activity on a well
(after drilling is done but before production starts). The O&G industry has always
used the word “fracking” only in reference to the actual hydraulic fracturing stimulation process.
2.1 The Frack vs. Frac Controversy
Environmental groups opposed to the development of shale gas and tight oil have
hijacked the term “fracking” as a trigger word to describe the entire shale gas production process, from the first bulldozer that clears off the well pad to the final
installation of a meter run before connecting the produced gas to a pipeline. The
recent remake of the Battlestar Galactica TV series used “frak” as a substitute cuss
word, and shale gas opponents have adopted it in that context (i.e. “Don’t frack with
New York”). In environmental organizations, the people who actually attend rallies
and protests are known as “activists.” Fracking opponents typically call themselves
“fracktivists.”
2 What Is Fracking?
produced oil. The operation itself was rather simple, so unlicensed practitioners
took to dropping dynamite or sometimes just pouring straight nitroglycerine into
wells to achieve the same effect. Roberts responded by hiring Pinkerton detectives
and an army of lawyers to enforce his patent. The freelancers began working at
night without lanterns to avoid being seen by the Pinkertons, using only moonlight
to illuminate their operations. Fumbling around in the dark with nitroglycerin was
extremely dangerous, as many learned the hard way. Some contemporary advice
urged that before attempting this task, practitioners should both update their will
and procure an empty cigar box for their grieving families to gather up the remains.
Besides being much safer, Farris’ hydraulic fractures were superior because they
extended a crack far into the rock unit, creating long, high permeability flowpaths
that could return substantial amounts of oil and gas to the well. Farris and Stanolind
Oil received a patent for hydraulic fracturing in 1949, and Stanolind promptly sold
the process to the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company. It was offered as a
service by Halliburton that same year, and the first commercial hydraulic fracturing
operations were performed on wells in Duncan, Oklahoma and Holliday, Texas in
1949 using Farris’ technique with oil-based fluids (Fisher 2010). Halliburton developed the modern, water-based method of hydraulic fracturing in 1953 (Montgomery
and Smith 2010).
Hydraulic fracturing is an engineering process known as “reservoir stimulation,”
which seeks to improve the recovery of hydrocarbons from a reservoir rock by making it easier for the fluids to move (Economides and Nolte 2000). The goal of hydraulic fracturing is to contact large volumes of reservoir rock with permeable flowpaths
that allow oil and gas to flow to a well. A second type of reservoir stimulation is
known as matrix stimulation, which restores permeability to the rock near a borehole that has suffered formation damage during the drilling process. It typically uses
acid treatments to dissolve out the mud and cement material plugging the pores, or
to create new holes through the matrix to bypass the damaged zone (Economides
and Nolte 2000). Reservoir stimulation is part of the “completion” activity on a well
(after drilling is done but before production starts). The O&G industry has always
used the word “fracking” only in reference to the actual hydraulic fracturing stimulation process.
2.1 The Frack vs. Frac Controversy
Environmental groups opposed to the development of shale gas and tight oil have
hijacked the term “fracking” as a trigger word to describe the entire shale gas production process, from the first bulldozer that clears off the well pad to the final
installation of a meter run before connecting the produced gas to a pipeline. The
recent remake of the Battlestar Galactica TV series used “frak” as a substitute cuss
word, and shale gas opponents have adopted it in that context (i.e. “Don’t frack with
New York”). In environmental organizations, the people who actually attend rallies
and protests are known as “activists.” Fracking opponents typically call themselves
“fracktivists.”
2 What Is Fracking?