Fracking oil & gas boosts US economy

[Puffs]

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a technique that significantly increases production from oil & gas wells. Particularly in cases with a poorly permeable reservoir & where the pressure difference between the reservoir and the well bore is low. In those cases production can drop below the economic cut-off long before the reservoir is properly drained. By hydraulically creating fractures in that reservoir, production greatly increases, and recovery from the reservoir is enhanced. Because of its geological and environmental setting, the US has greatly benefited from this technique:

EIA Oil production in US.png (29.29 KiB) Viewed 32 times

The result of this technological development is a reduction in oil imports, cheap fuel for manufacturing, and lower costs to the consumer (estimated at an additional disposable income of $1200/y per household). All this brings massive benefits to the economy.

Just pointing out that the revival now seen is not the result of one man, or political position, or party, but instead a continuation of something that started earlier, and which is purely based on a technological development that happens to be very suitable for the US setting.

[DAVID THOMPSON]

the end results of this is my fuel for my VW new bug is about $2.80 a gallon

the service station down at the us route 50 intersection is not where i get fuel
as the BRINE trucks that haul the fluids used in the wells to frack with is very radio active...

and i do not go near the place because they stop there in great numbers to get food for the drivers
and fuel for the trucks...

my China dish cabinet in the dining room bangs and rumbles as
the little earthquakes at 3.5 to 4.5 on the ricter scale make it dance all the time
the base of my house sets on solid rock

cartoon attached to explain my attitude about whats going on here now
the BS just gets deeper every day and the idiots are in charge of everything

lot of fracking to the north and east of my location and some to the east
we had a major quake in the fall of 1811 that was very destructive i think odds are good for a big one soon
we have had the little shake 2 to 4 but the number is way up now in how many
my china cupboard sings to me all the time now
DAVE
click on the cartoon to see it bigger

[Puffs]

Yes, that's why I said 'geological and environmental setting'.

Geology is not something you can do anything about; that deals with things & processes that have taken place millions / billions of years ago.

But fracking entails significant environmental risks too, which seem to be universally accepted in the US. There are, indeed, earthquakes caused by the release of tensions over faults reactivated by the fracking process. And on the longer term, there is also the risk that they frack the cap rock, i.e the seal of the reservoir, causing the hydrocarbons to leak to surface. Particularly as there are many shallow reservoirs in continental US, this may give problems in our life time. And of course there is contamination by the fluids used. (I did not know fracking involved radioactivity, but I can see it being used as a tracer.)

Now of course $2.80/US Gallon = €0.67/L = £0.57/L. By comparison, in B fuel costs about €1.45/L = $6.02/US Gallon. So you drive cheaply, but your dish cabinet shakes.

From the technical side, the other bad news is that: yes, fracking gives a boost to production, and the economy, but it will not last. When the technology is introduced, it will give an increase in production, but in due time that too will tail off. It may take some time, but production will decline (unless another trick is found). This decline will have a big impact, particularly for an energy-hungry society like in the US.

[DAVID THOMPSON]

burning coal makes a stove pipe radioactive ...
fellow i know has a stove pipe laying in the woods
extended family used it on a coal stove for over 60 years
has not been used for 30 years and it is still too radioactive to take to the scrap
yard so they coated it in tar and left it

i do not go where they are hauling CRUDE OIL near where i live some of it is hot
right out of the ground less than 20 miles northwest of my location
and the front 4 feet of my sidewalk has stone and gravel in it that's good to test a Geiger counter
with to see if it works

[Puffs]

Well, it is possible there are radioactive deposits when certain (by origin radioactive) coals are burnt, thus enhancing the RA level, but burning coal does not create radioactivity. Burning is a chemical process, radioactivity deals with nuclear processes.

In Aberdeen (Scotland) many houses & buildings were traditionally made from the granite quarried locally. Turns out that is radioactive, and their RA level can easily be measured with a Geiger counter. I think they stopped using it in new constructions, but the existing buildings remain in use. It is not something you want, but the level is such that there is no direct danger to health either. And granite is of course exceptionally durable.

Radioactivity has occurred naturally in many elements since they were created by nuclear fusion processes in stars. On earth, many substances have a certain level of natural radioactivity, and that is not normally an issue. But indeed it can be, if that RA becomes concentrated in one way or another. An example would be the ultra centrifuge used for enriching the concentration of the radioactive U235 isotope in naturally occurring uranium compounds.