Intentional Omissions? Waterless Fracturing
By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – Manager of Science and Communications
We got called on it; we have no articles about waterless fracturing on FracTracker.org – yet.
Fracturing deep geologic formations to access oil and gas without the use of water offers some financial benefits; it minimizes the water-in and waste-out costs, even though the upfront costs are higher for the driller. Environmentally, this is a plus since the sites would theoretically use much less water than they currently do (~5 million gallons per well depending on who you ask). The omission of an article on FracTracker about waterless fracturing, while not intentional, does reflect the nature of our work. As data enthusiasts, we try to focus on information that can be obtained from available data. We’ve looked into but found there to be limited data regarding the actual use and productivity of waterless fracturing. As such, we have not written anything specifically about the technique to-date.
Having said that, if you, the public, know where we could access data of this nature, please let us know. We would be more than happy to analyze and discuss waterless fracturing on our site in the future.
Hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas can use millions of gallons of water per well. Waterless frac technology could change that.
You can learn more about waterless frac technology in an article on RigZone.com.
