Common Hydraulic Fracturing Equipment
Although hydraulic fracturing operations take a relatively short amount of time to complete, the process requires the use of advanced technology and a variety of equipment. From data monitoring to hydraulic fracturing blenders and pumps, this highly developed and regulated process involves a flurry of activities.
Simplified Steps In Hydraulic Fracturing
1. Water, sand and additives are pumped at high pressures down the wellbore.
2. The liquid goes through perforated sections of the wellbore and into the surrounding formation, fracturing the rock and injecting sand or proppants into the cracks to hold them open.
3. Experts continually monitor and gauge pressures, fluids and proppants, studying how the sand reacts when it hits the bottom of the wellbore, slowly increasing the density of sand to water as the fracturing progresses.
4. This process may be repeated multiple times in “stages” to reach maximum areas of the wellbore. When this is done, the wellbore is temporarily plugged between each stage to maintain the highest water pressure possible and get maximum fracturing results in the rock.
5. The fracturing plugs are drilled or removed from the wellbore and the well is tested for results.
6. The water pressure is reduced and fluids are carried up the wellbore for disposal or treatment and re-use, leaving the sand in place to prop open the cracks and allow gas and oil to flow.
Deep Shale Gas and Oil
Unlike shallow projects, such as shallow coalbed methane (CBM), the producible portions of deep shale natural gas and oil formations exist many thousands of feet below the surface. Across the U.S. the average depth of a Chesapeake well is 7,700 feet (almost 1.5 miles below the earth’s surface and many thousands of feet below freshwater formations). This number varies depending on the development area. Chesapeake does not conduct any production or hydraulic fracturing activities in fresh groundwater aquifers. In fact, across its deep shale gas operations, groundwater aquifers and producing formations are separated by thousands of feet of protective rock barriers.
How Deep Is 7,700 Feet?
- More than six Empire State Buildings stacked end to end
- 1½ times deeper than the deepest part of the Grand Canyon
- More than 25 football fields laid out goalpost to goalpost