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Permalink Reply by J. Hinton on July 2, 2008 at 5:01

try this site for more information
www.earthworksaction.org/hydfracking.cfm

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Permalink Reply by Jenni on July 2, 2008 at 8:49

That site is skewed a bit to the "oil companies are evil and are out to kill use all" side of things, but the basic concept is this:

Most of the productive reservoirs in our area and at these depths are not able to flow without some sort stimulation. There is not enough natural permeablity in the formations. The frac process can be loosely equated to building a freeway through a jungle. You need to create a path for the hydrocarbons to reach the well bore.
The water is pumped throught perforations in the casing into the zone of interest to the point that the rock cracks open or "fractures". The water is used to create the frac and to transport sand or other man-made proppant into the fracture. the sand is used to hold or "prop" open the created fracture. Without the sand or proppant, the crack would close or heal after the fluid leaks off into the formation. The sand packed fracture is much more permeable than the natural rock. the frac treatment is usually designed to create a certain length and height to maximize the suface area exposed to the formation to effectively drain an area.
The size of a frac job depend on many factors. If these Haynesville shale wells respond like the Barnett Shale wells, they will be large volumes of water with low concentrations of sand.
The frac pits are typically dug in a central location to be able to transfer water to several wells in the area. Several companies specialze in transfering water out of these pits, through 10" aluminum pipes into work tanks on the actual location, sometimes a mile or more away. The pumping services companies like Halliburton, BJ Services, Schlumberger, etc. will pull the water from the work tanks, mix in different chemicals to combat fluid friction, viscosify the water, help prevent emulsions with formation fluid and on and on.
As long as the well has a competent cemnt job and casing that will stand up to the corrosion and pressure, there will not be issues with drinking water contamination.

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Permalink Reply by herefordsnshale on July 2, 2008 at 10:13

Thanks for the link. I guess you can learn a little from the "green wiennies"! The thing that jumps out at me the most is how advanced the drilling technology has gotten. It's amazing the things they can do these days!

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Permalink Reply by Trenna on July 2, 2008 at 5:31

Just want to thank everyone who posts on gohaynesvilleshale.com It is a very informative site and as the above post sometimes very funny :o

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Permalink Reply by Snake Stewart on July 2, 2008 at 7:31

I would just like to let PHK , or any of the other fellows who may be listening on ,know that my place is kinda swampy in the winter and I believe that we would have plenty of water for another said "11 frac" behemoth in my neck of the woods!

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Permalink Reply by J.R. Ewing on July 9, 2008 at 13:20

Interesting video. http://youtube.com/watch?v=QefLQKLb5co

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Permalink Reply by J.R. Ewing on July 9, 2008 at 13:43

Another excellent video. http://youtube.com/watch?v=cEmadgNz9vI&feature=related

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Permalink Reply by BirdDawg, plain ole' idiot on July 9, 2008 at 15:39

Very interesting. Thanks

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