Science Explorer. Multimedia Gallery. Park Passes. Technical Announcements. Employees in the News. Emergency Management. Survey Manual. Hydraulic fracturing in vertical wells has been used for over fifty years to improve the flow of oil and gas from conventional reservoirs.
However, the current practice of horizontal drilling coupled with multiple applications of hydraulic fracturing in a single well was pioneered in the late s and has continued to evolve. Since the final years of the 20th century, the use of this technique to produce oil and gas from previously unproductive formations has dramatically increased, which has pushed hydraulic fracturing and related processes into regions where oil and gas had not previously been produced. Learn more: Hydraulic Fracturing.
Comprehensive, published, and publicly available data regarding the extent, location, and character of hydraulic fracturing in the United States are scarce. The objective of this data series is to publish data related to hydraulic fracturing in the public domain.
The spreadsheets released with this data series contain derivative datasets Hydraulic fracturing is presently the primary stimulation technique for oil and gas production in low-permeability, unconventional reservoirs.
Comprehensive, published, and publicly available information regarding the extent, location, and character of hydraulic fracturing in the United States is scarce. This national spatial and temporal analysis Domestic oil and gas production and clean water are critical for economic growth, public health, and national security of the United States.
As domestic oil and gas production increases in new areas and old fields are enhanced, there is increasing public concern about the effects of energy production on surface-water and groundwater quality. In south Texas, a wide band of rocks stretches from the Mexican border all the way to western Louisiana, forming the highly productive Eagle Ford Group.
These formations, made up primarily of shale and mudstone, are some of the most prolific oil and gas-producing rocks in the United States. Decades or longer may be needed to fully assess the effects of unconventional oil and gas production on the quality of groundwater used for drinking water in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. These are the first published studies to demonstrate water-quality impacts to a surface stream due to activities at an unconventional oil and gas wastewater deep well injection disposal site.
The amount of water required to hydraulically fracture oil and gas wells varies widely across the country, according to the first national-scale analysis and map of hydraulic fracturing water usage detailed in a new USGS study accepted for publication in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
Newly released research from the U. Geological Survey describes U. A companion map of producing and potential frac sand and resin-coated sand source units in the conterminous U. Two new U.
Geological Survey publications that highlight historical hydraulic fracturing trends and data from to are now available. Using a geology-based assessment method, the U. Geological Survey estimated a mean undiscovered natural gas resource of 3. Well heads hooked up in preparation for a hydraulic fracturing operation at a drill pad in the Fayetteville Shale gas play of Arkansas. Fine-grained silica sand is mixed with chemicals and water before being pumped into rock formations to prevent the newly created artificial fractures from closing after hydraulic fracturing is completed.
Equipment set up to pump water from a lake to an impoundment for hydraulic fracturing in the Fayetteville Shale of Arkansas. Unused and spent perforating gun used in oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The pipe on the bottom left, shows holes created by the explosive charges mounted inside the pipe. A hydraulic fracturing operation is underway at this drilling pad in the Marcellus Shale gas play of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Hydraulic fracturing is the process of injecting wells with water, sand, and chemicals at very high pressure. This process creates fractures in deeply buried rocks to allow for the extraction of oil and natural gas as well as geothermal energy. USGS scientists discuss the opportunities and impact associated with hydraulic fracturing. Several state departments of environmental protection have also installed air monitors at well sites and found that emissions during oil and natural gas development do not exceed public health thresholds.
Visit EIDHealth. No fewer than two dozen scientific studies have concluded that fracking does not pose a major threat to groundwater. Most notably, a landmark U. Very rarely. Although induced seismicity particularly in Oklahoma has made headlines in recent years, earthquakes attributable to the actual fracking process are exceedingly rare and generally below the magnitude that people can actually feel.
Induced earthquakes are more commonly linked to wastewater injection — a completely separate process from fracking. The U. Geological Survey maintains a useful myths and misconceptions page regarding induced seismicity.
As it was written, this precedent-setting regulation would be difficult and costly for small- and medium-sized businesses to comply with and would likely discourage U. States have successfully regulated more than 1. On September 30, , a judge for the U. The judge agreed with industry that BLM does not have the congressional authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing on federal lands. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. In September , the Tenth Circuit Court dismissed the case, protecting producers from the business uncertainty of having to potentially comply with a regulation that is certain to be rewritten by the Trump administration.
District Court for the Northern District of California. IPAA and Western Energy Alliance have filed for intervention on behalf of the federal government as well as filed a motion for venue transfer back to Wyoming.
More than 25 scientific, peer-reviewed studies and expert assessments have concluded that hydraulic fracturing is not a major threat to groundwater. In fact, many studies have examined groundwater pollution and specifically ruled out fracking as the cause. View the links below to learn more about each scientific study:. Yet, as our country faces the considerable challenge of meeting our future energy needs, companies The authors also found that gross domestic product Gross domestic product, or GDP, is "the monetary value of final goods and services—that is, those that are bought by the final user—produced in a country in a given period of time.
Nominal GDP is the value of those goods and services at the time the measurement was taken. GDP does not include unpaid services, such as volunteering, but does include some government activity, such as education services.
A study from the U. Energy Information Administration EIA found that oil and natural gas industry employment increased faster than total private sector employment between the years The study found that oil and gas employment increased by more than ,—a 40 percent increase—compared to an increase of more than 1 million jobs in the private sector during the same period—a 1 percent increase.
Of total private sector employment growth from , oil and natural gas employment accounted for approximately 16 percent. According to the EIA, oil and natural gas employment equaled roughly one-half of one percent of total U. The study's breakdown of oil and natural gas employment at the end of can be found below: [40]. According to the EIA, oil and gas employment helped grow overall private sector employment following the recession.
The support and drilling sectors in particular were negatively affected by the recession but recovered following the recession's end in October , according to the EIA. From , monthly crude oil production in the United States increased by 39 percent while monthly natural gas production increased by 25 percent.
A September study published by IHS, which the organization describes is dedicated to "next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government," concluded that an increase in unconventional oil and natural gas production which includes production that uses fracking increased disposable income per U.
The study's authors argued that this increased income came in the form of lower energy bills and lower costs for goods and services.
Additionally, the study's authors argued that up to , jobs could be created by the year due to fracking. The full study can be accessed here. A July study by the American Petroleum Institute , whose stated mission is "to influence public policy in support of a strong, viable U. Of these jobs, 2.
In total, the study found that the oil and natural gas industry accounted for 5. The top 15 states with the largest oil and gas direct employment used in the study are listed below. Note: Click the [Show] button to see the table, and click on a column heading to sort the data. The authors argued that this economic value can lead to higher employment in the gas production and delivery sectors. The complete study can be accessed here.
Fracking proponents argue that increased oil and gas production can generate more local government revenue collected through property and sales taxes. The primary revenue streams from fracking include mineral leasing revenues, which is the income generated to those who lease their property to oil and gas developers, and severance taxes , which go to the states and the federal government.
Severance taxes are intended to compensate present and future citizens of a state where oil and gas is extracted.
The pie chart below shows the U. Severance taxes accounted for an average of 3. Alaska had the largest percentage of its total revenue come from severance taxes— Although the federal government does not collect data on oil and natural gas royalty and land sales on private land, a March study by Timothy Fitzgerald of Texas Tech University and Randal R. Rucker of Montana State University made the following estimates for oil and gas-related royalties, land sales, and prices for private land in The table below shows estimated private oil and gas revenues and royalties in by state.
All the data presented below are in millions of nominal dollars. The following section summarizes the environmental impacts of fracking and various studies that analyze these impacts, particularly induced seismicity earthquakes and potential water impacts. Other impacts air and land impacts are also described below. Human-induced earthquakes can be caused by mining, damming rivers, and creating injection wells, such as those used during oil and gas extraction.
These earthquakes are caused by injection wells when water pumped into underground wells causes the faults under the earth to slip. After a well has been fracked, water returns to the earth's surface. Water that cannot be recycled or reused is generally stored in injection wells, which are located thousands of feet underground and encased in cement. Multiple oil and gas wells generally rely on at least one disposal well for wastewater storage.
As of October , earthquakes from underground fluid injection during oil and gas production had been small—between 2. Scientists at the USGS have also generated earthquakes intentionally by carefully injecting liquid into the earth.
As of July , Colorado , Kansas , Ohio , Oklahoma , and Texas established seismic monitoring stations and updated injection well regulations, among other actions, to address increased seismic activity from fluid injections. Geological Survey argued that fracking was not the main cause of felt earthquakes in most instances: [50] [54] [55]. In , the USGS found that wastewater disposal, rather than fracking, was the main cause of an increase in earthquakes throughout the central United States from to According to the agency, wastewater disposal wells raise pressure levels more than fracked wells.
Larger amounts of fluid are used in wastewater disposal wells than in fracked wells; thus, wastewater disposal wells were more likely to produce induced seismic events than fracked wells, according to the agency. In addition, the agency argued that wastewater injection and as a result induced seismic activity typically occurs in rocks that have not been previously touched, whereas fracking involves injecting fluid into rock layers from which oil and natural gas have previously been extracted.
The USGS concluded that induced seismic events are more likely to occur in rock formations that have not been touched than formations that had been subjected to oil and gas activities. In March , four seismic events ranging between 2. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ODNR temporarily halted the operations and conducted an investigation, which concluded that there was likely a connection between fracking and the seismic events. These seismic events occurred on a previously unknown micro-fault.
The ODNR announced it would require oil and gas operators to follow additional permit conditions and would begin to monitor and address induced seismicity potentially linked to fracking in the state. The ODNR also said that it would work with private interstate oil and gas commissioners, states, and other stakeholders to share relevant data on induced seismicity and fracking.
In addition, Ohio state regulators implemented a seismic monitoring system for certain disposal wells, particularly in areas where the surrounding geology could increase the likelihood of induced seismicity. Seismic monitors are used on a site-by-site basis; if induced seismic events are not detected prior to and after injection, the seismic instruments may be transferred elsewhere. Congress in directed the EPA to review available research on the impacts of fracking on drinking water resources.
We did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States. Of the potential mechanisms identified in this report, we found specific instances where one or more mechanisms led to impacts on drinking water resources, including contamination of drinking water wells. The number of identified cases, however, was small compared to the number of hydraulically fractured wells. Concerning the draft conclusion that researchers did not find evidence of widespread, systemic impacts from fracking on drinking water resources, the draft noted the following:.
In the final report, such data gaps were presented as inhibiting a conclusion about national impacts. A article published in Science reviewed 11, water wells across Pennsylvania and found that "background levels of methane in the water are unrelated to the location of hundreds of oil and gas wells that tap hydraulically fractured, or fracked, rock formations.
According to the Science article, "[F]or all their disagreements, scientists on both sides of the fracking debate agree that it is very unlikely that microfracturing of rock formation itself contributes to the vertical migration of gases.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences analyzed water well samples from both the Marcellus and Barnett shales, located in Pennsylvania and Texas , respectively. Researchers found that higher-than-expected levels of hydrocarbon gases, including methane , had not been caused by fracking, or horizontal drilling , but by well integrity problems.
Researchers gathered samples from Pennsylvania and found seven instances of fugitive gas contamination, known as elevated hydrocarbon levels. In Texas, 20 wells were sampled, and one instance of fugitive gas contamination was found. Of these eight cases, four were identified by the researchers as having likely been caused by poor well cementing, not fracking.
Three cases were associated with faulty casing, and the final well experienced underground well failure. The study also found that methane in wells above the Marcellus Shale occurred naturally and was not the product of fracking. An August study by the U. Department of Energy found that the "likelihood of properly injected fracturing fluid reaching drinking water through fractures is remote" when a large separation exists between drinking water sources and the areas where oil and gas are produced.
According to the department, the majority of regions where shale gas production occurs are largely separated from drinking water sources and that there was little to no documentation of fracturing fluid migrating to drinking water sources. According to Mark Zoback, professor of geophysics at Stanford University and a member of the committee responsible for the report the Shale Gas Production Subcommittee at the Energy Department , "[F]racturing fluids have not contaminated any water supply and with that much distance to an aquifer, it is very unlikely they could.
Zoback claimed that, though natural gas has been found in drinking water supplies in some instances, the problem was caused primarily by poor well construction.
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