Barnett Shale

The Raton Basin In this paper the coal system of the Raton Baton basin will be analyzed and broken down into sections that include, structure and stratigraphy, coal quality, igneous intrusions, coal-bed methane, and the hydrocarbon production within the basin. The purpose of analyzing the Raton Basin is to understand coal diagenesis and the aspects of the basin that affect coal quality and production. Information for this paper has been gathered by several reports published by the United…

Willow Springs Park runs through the Cherry Hill fault zone and has a history of artesian flowing springs. This paired with 90 years of oil production, a new urban farm, and Coastal Sage Scrub (CSS) community makes the park a uniquely diverse environment. The purpose of conducting research at Willow Springs Park is to monitor the growth of CSS, which consists of low-growing shrubs, many of which are summer deciduous, with some succulents and long-lived grasses, sages, buckwheats, etc. CSS…

Over the years Brownsville, Texas has been in the process of industrializing and coming up with ideas to do so. Recently, Brownsville has proposed to build a Liquefied natural gas, “(LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4) that has been converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport” (Project). This process also requires very strict safety measures and precautions during all liquefaction stages, due to the flammable nature of the gas involved. If a leak happens in the process…

In 2005, the Energy Act gave Big Oil the right to slowly destroy our lands, impact our personal health, and to make huge sums of money extracting shale gas from both private and public owned lands, all under the disguise of energy independence. The act contains an exception loophole called the Halliburton Loophole. It is time for this loophole to be closed; for the protection of the health and for the safety of the country. According to Kate Sheppard, Senior Reporter and environment and energy…

Scope The purpose of this project is to summarize the Montney shale gas play that Progress Energy is operating in. We will be looking at and comparing the different wellbore designs they have, such as lengths, casing sizes, stages, frac tonnage. We will also be analyzing 8 wells in the Lily area and provide thorough information on well architecture, interval problems, number of bits/trips, and a day’s vs depth for all eight wells. We are going to analyze on the eight-well pad, located in…

Introduction To extract shale oil from up to 750 meters below the surface of a location on the Western slope in Colorado, the trapped organic matter (kerogen) must be slowly heated over a period of several years. Heater(s) will be placed throughout the rock shale to increase the temperature to as close to 400 C as possible without going over. As the organic matter is cooked, it needs to be contained by setting up a freeze wall consisting of a closed-loop piping system with cooled liquid. This…

Problem Statement Production from modern shale oil reservoirs is done typically through hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells. Although this discovery has led to a massive increase in production in areas that were otherwise thought to be unprofitable, there is still an enormous amount of oil left in the reservoirs. It is estimated that oil recovery is less than 10% from shale oil reservoirs. 1 Of that 10%, is it estimated only 1-2% of the reserves are recoverable. With numbers so low, it is…

The concept of Oil Fracking was first tapped into by Col. Edward Roberts, a civil war veteran. During the battle of Fredericksburg VA he drew the concept from exploding artillery into a narrow canal obstructing the battlefield (Manfreda J.). In 1866, Robert patented the “Exploding Torpedo”. A long rod shaped self- propelled underwater missile was packed into an iron case with 15-20 pounds of powder (Manfreda J.). Underground the case was placed right above the oil reserve, the wire on land was…

With a traditional vertical well, energy companies would only be able to get the gas directly next to the well in some rocks. Fracking allows access to natural gas trapped in impermeable rocks such as shale. A fractured well starts in much the same way as a traditional one. The engineer drills straight down towards the target of bed rock and then turns the drill horizontally to make an L-shape deep under the surface. At that point, millions of gallons…

Academic Analysis: “Natural Gas Fracking Addresses All of Our Major Problems” In his essay, “Natural Gas Fracking Addresses All of our Major Problems,” Richard Pierce argues that drilling for natural gas by using horizontal drilling and fracturing of shale formations will solve many of our nation’s issues. He cites that our abundant supply of natural gas has the ability to improve our economy, the environment, and geopolitical conditions as well provide a constant, dependable, global energy…