Is Fracking a Ponzi Scheme?

[Wakeley Bridge]

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[CoachBob]

Fracing is a known process for recovering natural gas. Learn about it here:
http://www.hydraulicfracturing.com/P...formation.aspx

[kbproctor]

Back in the early 70's, I was part of a Frac Crew. I ran the proportioner, or blender. This is truck mounted equipment that pulls fluid and sand, mixes them in proper proportion, adds any other chemical that may be needed and feeds it to pump truck that were, at the time, equipped with two high pressure pumps (up to 10,000 psi) powered by 1000 hp V-12 Cummins engines which then pumped this down an oil or gas well.

The standard configuration was to mix trona (the stuff that makes the dirt roads in Central Wyoming snot slick when it rains) with water to form a gel. This was pumped down the well under high pressure until the formation fractured. Then sand was added to the gel and pumped into the formation to hold the new cracks open to increase the flow of oil or gas.

Where the current problems are occurring is not from the fracturing itself but in bad jobs of cementing well casing in place. After a well is drilled, It is lined with casing or pipe. There is supposed to be a cement barrier outside the casing at the point that the hole moves from one formation to the next to keep water, oil, gas, or anything else from moving from one formation to the next. The portion of the hole from ground level to bedrock is supposed to be continuously filled with cement between the casing and wall of the hole to keep everything out of the ground water.

If these barriers are not placed correctly or are of substandard cement, oil, gas, or water can move from one formation to the next which can cause tons of trouble. If the barriers are done properly, there is no chance of contamination between formations.

[Denny]

Thanks Kevin!

Denny

[Chuck S]

Well said Kevin!

[hap]

I worked in the production end of things in Prudhoe Bay for a very long time... There were some cement issues there and problems caused by fracing. But in the grander scheme of things I believe the whole concept was flawed from inception because the basis for doing it was not rational. It was used in PB to increase production immediately in a formation with tremendous porosity and permeability. What it did was generate production problems: dealing with sand flowing back, gas or water flow encroachment from increased production (water and gas both move through the formation better than crude due to viscosity) increasing water and/or gas enough to wash through the oil creating "fingers" of production and ruining wells in the process, and fracing that exceeded the target zones.

It was seldom long-lasting and usually led to wells being shut-in shortly after fracing. The numbers of incidents with frac sand jetting holes in production pipe was significant... the amount of sand (actually eopxy coated balls of sand there) used was prodigious... And the basic flaw was based on bean-counters and their belief that money not made within 7 years is not made... It slowed the decline in production curve significantly, but only for a while.

FWIW Prudhoe Bay and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline are in a serious jam right now. The production has fallen to under 300,000 barrels per day of oil (from 1.8 million) and TAPS is actually transporting oil at a rate significantly below the design parameters. That means the oil is much cooler when it gets to Valdez, but also means the temperature related problems from waxes in the oil are getting worse all the time. A shut-down right now could cause them all sorts of problems. If production drops just a tiny bit more the line will likely have to be shut down. Of course every reasonable projection shows a decline in production...