CONSERVATION ENVIRONMENTAL GROUNDWATER PETROLEUM PRODUCED WATER WASTE MINIMIZATION WASTEWATER

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Abstract

Production of natural gas from shale formations has become among the fastest growing sectors of the oil and gas industry. Estimates published by the U.S. Department of Energyﾒs (DOE) Energy Information Administration (EIA) in January 2012 (1) project that shale gas will steadily expand over the next 23 years and by 2035 will make up 49% of the U.S. gas production (see Figure 1). This projection is higher than 2011ﾒs projection of 45%. Although the industry recognized that many shale formations held substantial quantities of natural gas, conventional vertical wells were unable to produce significant quantities of gas. Shale gas production expanded in the Barnett Shale in Texas during the late 1990s after producers began employing two technologies on each well: 1. horizontal drilling to allow longer contact between the well bore and the shale rock; and 2. hydraulic fracturing to develop a network of cracks in the shale rock that allowed the gas to move to the well.

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