viii
fracking while remaining profitable for conventional production, the fracked
resources suffered.
American producers fought back with increased efficiency to lower production
costs, but the bottom line is that the break-even point for Saudi conventional oil
production is about half the cost of Bakken Shale tight oil production in North
Dakota. This price battle has been raging since about 2015, with overproduction
causing a glut in the world’s oil supply along with depressed prices. This was before
the coronavirus pandemic that began in early 2020 sharply reduced oil demand, first
in China, then Europe, and finally worldwide as people stopped traveling. The combination of oversupply and lower demand caused petroleum prices to fall to historic
lows (including briefly to zero). As a result, many American O&G production companies went deeply into debt and more than a few US shale production companies
have gone into bankruptcy. Financial institutions are questioning the wisdom of
backing the development of shale gas and tight oil, and many are refusing to do so.
One can’t help but wonder if the whole North American shale gas–tight oil energy
economy is built on a house of cards.
Political and economic issues aside, the greatest concern related to fracking is
arguably the potential environmental risks. These are not at all clear. Estimates of
the environmental impacts from the technology literally range from severe to none.
Scientific investigations into the potential risks of fracking began more than a
decade ago, but in the past 5 years the number of papers published on the geophysics, geochemistry, geology, hydrology, atmospheric chemistry, biology, ecosystem,
and human health effects of fracking has grown exponentially. There are now hundreds, possibly thousands of peer-reviewed, published documents that attempt to
define the risks and benefits of fracking, including several books (e.g., Wilbur 2012;
Sernovitz 2016; Schug and Hildenbrand 2017; Raimi 2018).
Rather than clarify things, this massive body of publications has muddied the
waters. One doesn’t have to wade too deeply into the literature to determine that
fracking is far from a black and white, cut and dried issue. Many scientists
approached these investigations with the expectation that links between fracking
and devastating environmental impacts would be glaringly obvious, but found
instead that the details are far more nuanced and complex. Review studies ended up
producing thousand-page documents. Compilations of existing literature turned up
hundreds of articles. Different research teams often reached contradictory conclusions, sometimes with almost identical data sets. The sheer volume of literature
combined with the confusing results has made it increasingly difficult for average,
concerned citizens (and even many regulators and research scientists) to sort out the
risks and benefits of fracking.
With a few exceptions described in later chapters of this book, no studies have
been able to definitively link fracking with significant environmental degradation.
This does not mean to suggest that there are no environmental impacts from O&G
development in general, because indeed there are many. However, fracking is only
one aspect of the hydrocarbon production process. When talking about specific
impacts to the environment from the fracking technology itself, these are minimal.
Unfortunately, some environmentalists have conflated fracking into a catch-all term
Preface
fracking while remaining profitable for conventional production, the fracked
resources suffered.
American producers fought back with increased efficiency to lower production
costs, but the bottom line is that the break-even point for Saudi conventional oil
production is about half the cost of Bakken Shale tight oil production in North
Dakota. This price battle has been raging since about 2015, with overproduction
causing a glut in the world’s oil supply along with depressed prices. This was before
the coronavirus pandemic that began in early 2020 sharply reduced oil demand, first
in China, then Europe, and finally worldwide as people stopped traveling. The combination of oversupply and lower demand caused petroleum prices to fall to historic
lows (including briefly to zero). As a result, many American O&G production companies went deeply into debt and more than a few US shale production companies
have gone into bankruptcy. Financial institutions are questioning the wisdom of
backing the development of shale gas and tight oil, and many are refusing to do so.
One can’t help but wonder if the whole North American shale gas–tight oil energy
economy is built on a house of cards.
Political and economic issues aside, the greatest concern related to fracking is
arguably the potential environmental risks. These are not at all clear. Estimates of
the environmental impacts from the technology literally range from severe to none.
Scientific investigations into the potential risks of fracking began more than a
decade ago, but in the past 5 years the number of papers published on the geophysics, geochemistry, geology, hydrology, atmospheric chemistry, biology, ecosystem,
and human health effects of fracking has grown exponentially. There are now hundreds, possibly thousands of peer-reviewed, published documents that attempt to
define the risks and benefits of fracking, including several books (e.g., Wilbur 2012;
Sernovitz 2016; Schug and Hildenbrand 2017; Raimi 2018).
Rather than clarify things, this massive body of publications has muddied the
waters. One doesn’t have to wade too deeply into the literature to determine that
fracking is far from a black and white, cut and dried issue. Many scientists
approached these investigations with the expectation that links between fracking
and devastating environmental impacts would be glaringly obvious, but found
instead that the details are far more nuanced and complex. Review studies ended up
producing thousand-page documents. Compilations of existing literature turned up
hundreds of articles. Different research teams often reached contradictory conclusions, sometimes with almost identical data sets. The sheer volume of literature
combined with the confusing results has made it increasingly difficult for average,
concerned citizens (and even many regulators and research scientists) to sort out the
risks and benefits of fracking.
With a few exceptions described in later chapters of this book, no studies have
been able to definitively link fracking with significant environmental degradation.
This does not mean to suggest that there are no environmental impacts from O&G
development in general, because indeed there are many. However, fracking is only
one aspect of the hydrocarbon production process. When talking about specific
impacts to the environment from the fracking technology itself, these are minimal.
Unfortunately, some environmentalists have conflated fracking into a catch-all term
Preface