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| Fig. 1: U.S. natural gas production per year, measured in billions of cubic meters. [2] (Source: L. Pistor) |
Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", is a procedure by which fuel resources are extracted from the Earth through the use of high-pressure liquids, which are able to fracture bedrock and allow oil and natural gas to escape through the cracks that are formed. This same technique can also be applied to stimulate groundwater wells and measure stress on the Earth. [1]
Due to its appeal of providing a self-sufficient energy economy, ensuring energy security, and replacing coal as the main source of fuel, fracking has revolutionized the energy industry. This has, in turn, propelled the United States into becoming a major oil exporter. Increased availability of resources has also reduced the prices of energy, lowering the expenditure on energy for an average household. It is undeniable that natural gas is becoming an increasingly important sector in the global fuel economy. An issue briefing on hydraulic fracturing published by BP projects that natural gas will be used to meet 25% of the global energy demand by 2035, with shale gas expected to make up a quarter of total gas production in 2035. [2] Since shale gas is overwhelmingly extracted using hydraulic fracturing technology, it is clear that fracking remains a highly important area of focus.
Despite its early promise for both industries and consumers, fracking is highly controversial. While fracking might lead to replacing coal with more ecologically friendly natural gas, it carries with it the risks of water contamination and potential increases in seismic activity. [3] On top of the ecological impact, it has also been instrumental in the increased industrialization of rural areas, the destruction of natural habitats, and high levels of air pollution. [4]
The next natural question to ask is whether fracking is replaceable and whether economical and more environmental-friendly alternatives to fracking are available. Unfortunately, alternatives to fracking are not readily available: hydraulic fracturing remains one of the most prevalent ways to extract natural gas and oil. In particular, certain regions have large stores of natural-gas-saturated sediment with permeability too low to extract by conventional means, making fracking the only feasible approach to extract these fuel resources. This is the case in the United States, where over 100,000 wells have been constructed between 2015 and 2022 to extract natural gas from hard rock formations across the United States. [5] When we observe the U.S. production of natural gas (see Fig. 1), we notice that the U.S. produced 934.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2021. The BP Statistical Review of World Energy indicates that this amounts to 33.63 exajoules over the year. [2] For oil, this figure is 35.33 exajoules. Seeing as natural gas plays a critical role in the US energy mix, and since hydraulic fracturing plays a key role in U.S. domestic natural gas production, it is clear that fracking plays a critical role in the U.S. energy economy at the present.
Debates on fracking often involve considering energy security, and even job security in some cases, against the impact on the environment and the communities closest to the fracking sites. [6] Vermont and New York have imposed complete bans on fracking. Such political decisions also lay bare the impact of strong corporate lobbies in the law-making process. These debates push one to consider how far out the promise of truly sustainable energy remains while most governments hope for a quick transition to less ecologically harmful methods of fuel extraction, it is clear that we must consider the capability of hydraulic fracturing to utilize fuel reserves that would otherwise remain buried.
© Luca Pistor. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] L. Gandossi and U. Von Estorff, "An Overview of Hydraulic Fracturing and Other Formation Stimulation Technologies For Shale Gas Production," European Commission Joint Research Centre, EUR 26347 EN, 2015.
[2] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022," British Petroleum, June 2022.
[3] W.-Y. Kim, "Induced Seismicity Associated With Fluid Injection Into a Deep Well in Youngstown, Ohio," J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth 118, 3506 (2013).
[4] B. Olson and L. Cook, "Wall Street Tells Frackers to Stop Counting Barrels, Start Making Profits," Wall Street Journal, 13 Dec 17.
[5] L. Li et al., "Exposure to Unconventional Oil and Gas Development and All-Cause Mortality in Medicare Beneficiaries," Nat. Energy 7, 177 (2022).
[6] C. Krauss, "Ukraine the Mirage of Energy Independence," New York Times, 25 Feb 22.