Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is considered today a controversial drilling process used to extract shale gas and oil located deep in the underground rock.
Why is Fracking a Controversial Extraction Process?
Due to the fact that hydraulic fracturing can increase the production of natural gas and oil in the world, but will also affect the environment and the life of the people living close to a shale gas well.
One of the main concerns related to fracking is generated by the large consumption of water during the process, which needs to be pumped into the underground rock along with sand and chemicals to release the shale gas deposited there.
When injected into the underground rock, the water, the sand and the chemicals will create tiny cracks in the rock to allow the shale gas reach the surface, and when the shale gas deposits will be depleted, the fracking fluid (a mix of water, sand and chemicals) will be injected back in the drilling well and sealed there.
What Are the Advantages And Disadvantages Of Fracking?
Fracking has opened the opportunity for huge supplies of natural gas in the United States, which generated major economic benefits.
At the same time, fracking has a major impact on the environment.
The fracking process changes the structural layout of the underground rock which can produce quakes in the extraction area, and the chemicals used can poison the underground sources of fresh water.
Advantages of Fracking
Despite the major environmental problems created by fracking, this extraction technique has ensured a large production of oil and natural gas, which lowered the price of oil and other fossil fuels on the market.
1. The U.S. economy is no longer dependent on foreign oil and natural gas resources
Fracking has increased the U.S. reserves of oil and natural gas to a level that was never achieved before, which produced a major boom of the U.S. economy.
The U.S. reserves of oil and natural gas has been increased to such a level due to hydraulic fracturing that the country is no longer dependent on oil from Saudi Arabia and natural gas from Russia.
Today, the U.S. is exporting oil and natural gas in 30 different countries on the planet.
The U.S. reserves of oil and natural gas are so large today that the exports are now exceeding one million barrels per day of crude oil, and more than 3 million cubic feet of natural gas per year.
However, despite the exports of crude oil and natural gas, the U.S. is still importing fossil fuels from other countries.
2. Fracking lowered the prices of oil and natural gas on the market
Fracking managed to increase the U.S. reserves of oil and natural gas to such a level that the price of oil and gas dropped on the market pretty much, and this was caused by the fact that the U.S. reduced its dependency on the OPEC oil.
By increasing the reserves of natural gas, hydraulic fracturing has directly hit other fossil fuel sectors such as the coal sector (which is dirtier than oil and natural gas), and created the possibility to reduce the consumption of coal in the country and increase the consumption of natural gas for energy generation, which reduced the level of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere.
3. Due to fracking, the U.S. is no longer only an importer of oil and natural gas, is also an exporter
The shale gas reserves have increased the natural gas production in the U.S. to al level that was never achieved before.
In fact, the U.S. reserves of natural gas (including shale gas) that have been discovered are two times larger than the reserves of oil in Saudi Arabia.
Natural gas is a cleaner fossil fuel than oil and coal, which means that is more than obvious that natural gas will replace oil and coal for energy production in the U.S. for the next two decades.
The reserves of natural gas in the country are so large today that the U.S. is able to export natural gas and even oil in other countries.
4. Hydraulic fracturing managed to lower the price of energy on the U.S. market
Hydraulic fracturing has increased the domestic reserves of oil and natural gas in the country, which lead to a decrease in energy prices for consumers.
The lower oil and natural gas prices have created savings of up to a few hundred dollars per person.
For low income families this was a huge deal, and it was possible due to the fact that fracking has managed to drastically increase the oil and natural gas production in the country.
5. Due to fracking, the U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of natural gas
Due to the large reserves of shale gas and oil that have been discovered, the U.S. has become the world’s largest producer of natural gas.
The huge production of natural gas in the country has made the U.S. an important exporter of natural gas, and IEA (International Energy Agency) estimated that the U.S. will become the world’s first exporter of liquefied natural gas in the next five years.
6. A large number of new jobs were created in the U.S. due to fracking
Since fracking has become the main extraction technique used to harvest the shale reserves of oil and natural gas in the U.S. the number of jobs in the sector have been dramatically increased.
Today, there are about 1.8 million direct, indirect and induced jobs created by the hydraulic fracturing sector in the country, and this number is set to increase at 3 million by the year 2020.
7. Hydraulic fracturing increases the energy security of the country
In the last decade, the domestic oil production in the U.S. has been increased by more than 80% due to fracking, and the imports of oil have been decreased to around 27%.
The large production of oil and natural gas in the country due to fracking has reduced the reliance on the foreign oil, which is ruled by inconsistent prices and policies and different political regimes.
Disadvantages of Fracking
Being an extraction technique that affects the environment pretty much, hydraulic fracturing features a long list of disadvantages.
1. Hydraulic fracturing is good for the economy and bad for the environment
It is very true that hydraulic fracturing has increased the U.S. production of oil and natural gas to a level that was never achieved before, which has strengthened the economy, and the country’s position on the world’s energy market, but at the same time it affected the environment and the people pretty much.
2. Fracking can destroy your water supply
The fracking fluid used to break the rock formations in order to release the natural gas and oil reserves contains sand and dangerous chemicals, which can poison the underground water supplies used by people.
People involved in the fracking sector will say that they drill after oil and natural gas at a much lower depth (7 to 12 thousand feet deep), which cannot affect the underground water supplies located at maximum 1,000 feet deep.
However, they forget that by drilling up to 7 or 12 thousand feet deep, they have a great chance to penetrate an underground water supply (located much closer to the surface) and when they will inject the high-pressure fracking fluid into the drilling well, the dangerous chemicals will surely enter the underground water supply.
If the chemicals are not entering the underground water supply maybe the fuel extracted (oil or natural gas) will penetrate the water supply due to the connection created between the drilling well and the underground water supply.
The underground water supplies become useless this way, and this will heavily affect the community because people can live without oil or natural gas, but they can’t live without water.
3. Can produce air pollution
People living close to a fracking rig have reported many times that their water supply has become flammable because it contains fuel (oil or natural gas) or dangerous chemicals and can no longer be used.
The companies that own the drilling wells seem to not be aware (or they simply don’t care) of the fact that during the drilling process, an underground water supply used by the local community can be penetrated and flooded by fracking fluid or even by small parts of the fuel extracted.
If the water supply contains natural gas, the fuel will be released into the atmosphere and because natural gas is a greenhouse gas will increase the greenhouse effect on the planet and will also pollute the air in the area.
4. Consumes a large amount of water in the drilling process
We already know that the fresh water supply is limited on the planet, and because the world’s population is increasing year after year, we cannot afford to use precious water supplies to only get some fossil fuels and also contaminate the underground rock with dangerous chemicals.
People protesting against fracking in London, image source: pixabay.com
We need to use the water supply to produce crops and food and not to harvest fossil fuels which will harm the environment.
5. Can produce small earth quakes
People living close to a fracking well have reported an increased number of quakes in the area.
The hydraulic fracturing process involves the fracturing of the underground rock formations, which can produce small quakes from time to time.
This is another thing that seriously affects the life of the people living close to fracking sites.
6. Hydraulic fracturing produces noise pollution
People living close to the fracking wells seem to be the most affected by the continuous noise created by the extraction process.
Because the underground shale reserves of oil and natural gas can be located under your yard or anyway close to human settlements, the fracking rigs will be installed there to harvest the resources.
The fracking process produces a noise, which is not very loud but is continuous, and will affect all the people living close to the fracking well.
7. Fracking creates a false impression that natural gas is the answer to air pollution
Promoters of hydraulic fracturing usually present as a major benefit of fracking the fact that natural gas produces less emissions than coal and oil while burning.
This is true, but let’s not forget that natural gas is still a fossil fuel that pollutes the air (is also dangerous because is a highly flammable and explosive fuel).
If we want to reduce the air pollution produced on the planet we need to replace the dirty fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) with clean and renewable sources of power, and will also need to replace the cars with combustion engines with electric vehicles.
Conclusion
The process called hydraulic fracturing or simply fracking has created new jobs in the energy sector and turned the U.S. into a major producer of oil and natural gas, which has strengthened the country’s position on the global energy market.
However, the damage produced in the underground water supplies and to the people living close to the fracking wells is showing that the technique needs to be changed to become environmentally friendly.
My husband and I just moved to a property that supposedly has some oil reserves on it, and we’re considering fracking to get to this oil. Your article had some great information about the pros and cons of doing something like this, and I liked how you said that one of the benefits of fracking is that it has increased the domestic reserves of oil and natural gas, which leads to a decrease in energy prices. Thanks; we’ll keep this in mind when considering if fracking is right for us.