Sentences with phrase «shale formations»

Everyone gives the nod for the resurgence in oil and gas law to the extraordinary natural gas deposits found in shale formations from Texas to Pennsylvania.

The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has unlocked supplies from shale formations in the central U.S.

And other more contentious issues could be raised such as ways to support «clean coal» or to address the environmental impact of drilling for natural gas in shale formations.

Consider this: suppose we were getting hydrogen instead of methane from shale formations and were burning that instead of fossil fuels, there would be no by - product CO2, but the heat would be the same.

During fracking, on or offshore, chemical - laced water is injected at high pressure into shale formations below ground.

The report «Fact - Based Regulation for Environmental Protection in Shale Gas Development» was released in February during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver, British Columbia, and suggested there is little or no evidence of a direct connection between groundwater contamination and hydraulic fracturing, which involves the injection of water, sand and chemicals to release natural gas from shale formations deep underground.

The problem is that natural gas is methane, a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right, and when you extract natural gas from shale formations, some of it inevitably leaks out.

That EROEI similar to infinity that renewables possess makes cooking oil out of oil shale formations a completely reasonable thing to undertake.

In other words, the American energy renaissance, and millions of jobs and numerous economic benefits it has made possible, would not have happened if not for technological advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling that have unlocked previously inaccessible resources in shale formations.

But for potential foreign purchasers of that oil, the key question is how much extra it will cost to extract the dirty compounds in Alberta bitumen so that its quality matches export oil being produced at high - grade, low - cost US shale formations like the Bakken, Permian, and Eagle Ford.

Recent technological advancements in exploration, drilling, and hydraulic fracturing have transformed shale formations from marginal natural gas producers to substantial and expanding contributors to the natural gas portfolio.

While natural gas production from shale formations has significantly increased domestic production, there is ongoing investigation of potential environmental concerns related to shale gas development, including carbon emissions and possible groundwater contamination.

The recent development of natural gas shale formations has contributed to increased domestic production of natural gas, and liquefied natural gas does not seem to be a priority fuel for California at this time.

Chevron and other giant energy companies are demanding a TTIP investment chapter that will allow them to sue governments if environmental or other regulations interfere with their expected future profits by, for example, restricting oil and gas drilling, imposing pollution and oil spill controls or constraining the use of hydraulic fracking techniques to extract natural gas and oil from shale formations.

[xvi] RW Howarth, Santoro, R & Ingraffea, A, «Methane and the greenhouse - gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations», Climate Change, 2011, viewed 14 September 2012, http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/howarth/Howarth et al 2011.

«The increased exploration and development spend we're seeing in this year's study speaks to the incredible opportunity unfolding in tight oil from shale formations and the high cost of developing these unconventional resources.»

Just a few years ago, word was that shale formations in North America held enough natural gas reserves to last for decades.

The latest example of how wrong the Malthusian - influenced doubters have been is provided by fracking, horizontal drilling, and associated technology applied particularly to extracting oil and natural gas from shale formations.

It now appears likely that oil prices will remain low throughout the world for many years and perhaps even centuries because the shale formations from which oil is now being obtained using the new technology are very abundant on Earth.

Developed more than 60 years ago, fracking involves pumping millions of gallons of chemically treated water into deep shale formations at pressures of 9000 pounds per square inch or more.

Nonetheless, up to 50 layers of natural gas can occur between the surface and deep shale formations, and methane from these shallow deposits has intruded on groundwater near fracking sites.

The predominant approach is hydraulic fracturing («fracking») of deep shale formations via injection of millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals under pressure, thus liberating methane [155], [160].

Developers drill into the shale formations and inject a mixture of water and sand at very high pressures.

It has all the hallmarks of a new industry with ups and downs, but it is clearly here to stay — even with cheap natural gas coming from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in shale formations.

Since recent events have demonstrated the relative environmental soundness of hydraulic fracturing — a technique for extracting oil and gas from shale formations — Promised Land's script has been altered to make doom - saying environmentalists the tools of oil companies attempting to discredit legitimate «fracking» concerns.

Second, while the 2011 report focused exclusively on natural gas, recent developments in the United States highlight the role of shale formations and other tight plays as sources of crude oil, lease condensates, and a variety of liquids processed from wet natural gas.

Tight oil plays, mostly from shale formations, accounted for 33 percent of all the crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves.

Expanded natural gas production from shale formations is one of the main reasons that gas - fired generation has developed a competitive advantage.

The industry also faces stiff competition from a flood of U.S. oil unleashed from oil shale formations by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The problem is that treating oil and gas waste from fracked wells remains particularly tricky because the industry is still allowed to keep secret information about which chemicals drillers use when injecting fluids to crack open shale formations to release oil and gas.

However, beginning in 2009, the gap between coal and natural gas prices narrowed, as large amounts of natural gas produced from shale formations changed the balance between supply and demand in U.S. natural gas markets.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique to remove natural gas and oil from shale formations, has been under withering assault from environmental groups for much of the last decade.

Three energy sources — domestic natural gas from shale formations, energy efficiency and energy recovery from plastics — can help America reach energy security and environmental goals.

Techniques for hydraulic fracturing vary, but Mr. Mitchell's involved drilling straight down, then making a 90 - degree turn thousands of feet underground to penetrate shale formations horizontally.

Chu is just one of many observers who say that natural gas produced from U.S. shale formations could change America's energy landscape.

We should invest in the technology that can help us recover more from existing oil fields, and speed up the process of recovering oil and gas resources in shale formations in Montana and North Dakota; Texas and Arkansas and in parts of the West and Central Gulf of Mexico.

Original post In 2011, a Cornell research team led by the environmental scientist Robert Howarth published «Methane and the greenhouse - gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations,» a widely discussed paper positing that gas escaping from drilling operations using hydraulic fracturing, widely known as fracking, made natural gas a bigger climate threat than the most infamous fossil fuel, coal.

The Howarth paper, «Methane and the greenhouse - gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations,» had estimated that leakage of gas from hydraulic fracturing operations (given that natural gas is mainly methane, a potent heat - trapping substance) and other factors made the climate impact of gas from such wells substantially worse than that of coal, measured per unit of energy.

Many small - cap energy firms that operate in more expensive - to - drill shale formations, and that have heavier debt loads, have sold off hard, pushing their share prices down.

The injection of the hydraulic fracturing fluids creates channels for flow in the formations (often shale formations), allowing methane and other hydrocarbon gases and liquids in the formation to migrate to the production well.

Some scientists, including Cornell University environmental biologist Robert Howarth, have questioned natural gas's use as a «bridge fuel» because producing the gas, most of which is released from underground shale formations through hydraulic fracturing, often emits a lot of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

The predominant approach is hydraulic fracturing («fracking») of deep shale formations via injection of millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals under pressure, thus liberating methane [155], [160].

The report covers the most prospective shale formations in a group of 41 countries that demonstrate some level of relatively near - term promise and that have a sufficient amount of geologic data for a resource assessment.

In a review of the potential health impact of fracking, which involves the pumping of water and chemicals into dense shale formations to push out gas and oil, Public Health England (PHE) said any health impacts were likely to be minimal.

Most of the wells in the basin are drilled into «tight sand» formations that require the same fracking technology being used in shale formations.

The results come as a natural - gas boom hits the United States, driven by a technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or «fracking», that can crack open hard shale formations and release the natural gas trapped inside.

Just one well can extend a mile or more deep to penetrate low - lying shale formations.

More than 30 states have shale formations that harbor natural gas underground, according to the Energy Information Administration.

But the compounds used to crack shale formations to release their gas and oil reserves are under increasing scrutiny.

That's how Ed Davey, the United Kingdom's Energy and Climate Minister, is describing the climate impacts of natural gas from shale formations: This report shows that the continued use of gas is perfectly consistent with our carbon budgets over the next couple of decades.