Our Energy 101 feature returns this week with our new contributor, Emily Haggstrom, who brings us a review of one of the most contentious topics in energy, hydraulic fracturing.
Our guest is Howard Rough, Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Rockpile Energy Services. His hydraulic fracturing experience comes from more than thirty years in the field. Howard walks us through the difference between the completion process and the production process, concerns with fracking and the environment, as well as the basics of hydraulic fracturing.
Howard emphasizes the importance of understanding that there are separate components to oil recovery. Hydraulic fracturing is only one of these components which is often misconstrued to be the entire process of oil production.This process takes place miles underground, when large amounts of sand and water are pumped under high pressure to create fissures in the rock. There is also drilling and recovery, which are unrelated to fracking.
Take a look at the density of the rock that holds oil.
This Bakken rock is surprisingly heavy for it's size, and less porous than concrete. Drawing oil out of this stone requires high pressure water blasting to push the oil contained inside to the surface. Notice the black spots you see within the rock is oil.
Rough also brought us samples of propant, known to people outside of the industry as sand, which is part of the mixture that is pumped into the reservoir.
Here at ICOSA, we believe information is invaluable. When we listen to all sides of a story and work really hard to see around any media bias, we are more likely to encounter the truth.
The intention behind our Energy 101 show, is to educate our listeners with all the information needed to make intelligent, informed decisions concerning energy issues. For that reason, we bring you the voices of experts in their fields, unedited.
For more information on the hydraulic fracturing process and the chemicals that are used, visit www.StudyFracking.com and www.FracFocus.org
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