A Canadian company is experimenting in Texas with a drilling technique as a substitute for the enormous amount of water used in the hydraulic fracturing process.Ernie has sent this link with a bit more information regarding GasFrac and propane fracking.
Jadela Oil Corp., a Canadian exploration and production company, fractured its El Indio No. 1 horizontal well in Maverick County near Eagle Pass with more than 5,000 barrels of liquid propane and butane, a process known as gas fracking.
Traditional hydrofracking has created a boom in drilling in shale formations, including the Eagle Ford Shale across South Texas.
But it also has caused environmental concerns because of the amount of water used — a single well requires millions of gallons — and because the water used becomes contaminated and cannot be reused.
The method using a propane and butane jell hopefully will reduce production costs because, unlike water, the gas mixture can be recovered and reused or sold, Jadela CEO Greg Leia said. The secondary benefit, Leia said, is environmental.
The technology is so new that it has yet to catch the attention of U.S. environmentalists who track fracturing issues.Give them time.
I wonder if the EPA definition of "diesel" will include propane? As noted before, my hunch is anything with C and H in it, and if used in fracking, will be declared "diesel."
This link will give you some info on the gasfrac and potential dangers. It looks like they have safety practices in place that would make it viable. I'm sure the EPA will find some reason to shut it down.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/22/us-shale-propane-idUSTRE7AL1ML20111122
Ernie
Great link, Ernie, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI've added it to the body of the post to make it easier for folks to get to the article, and for folks to find it if doing a google search for GasFrac or propane fracking.
I have close family that owns a small trucking company in ND and they haul water to the fracking operations, because of that, I hope this never catches on. But the engineer in me says it could be a better way to fracture. Although that doesn't matter to the EPA. I wonder how different the set up and actual operation is using propane vs water. I can't imagine it will be cheaper and if the wells in ND will need to be fracked multiple times then that'll be a challenge. Could be a valid way when water is scarce.
ReplyDeleteI don't see propane fracking in North Dakota any time soon. Water is not an issue in the Bakken.
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