Hydraulic Fracturing Research Paper

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Hydraulic fracturing is a process used after a hole is drilled in the surface that extends up to 10,000 ft in depth and 1 mile in width. Once the hole is drilled, fluids are inserted into the well which create small fractures on the walls of the well. Using pressurized fluids pumped into the wells, the fractures expand due to pressure and spread 1000 ft to 2000 ft. The fractures on the wells are kept open by "proppants", which are solid particles with the mixture of fluids inserted. The "proppants" prevent the fractures from closing. Once the mixture of fluids go through the fractures, they are pulled back up to the surface followed by oil and natural gas from the shale that is now fractured in the sub-surface. According …show more content…
The fluids that are pumped in contain large solution of water, sand and a very small amount of chemicals. The sand and small pebbles act like "proppants" in the mixture. When this mixture is pumped into the well, they flow and enter into the fractures. The "proppants" act as stoppers in between the fractures. They prevent the fractures from closing while the solution is pumped under high pressure. The fluids that flow through cause the fractures to spread deeper due to its pressure. This causes the shale formation to fracture and it increases its permeability. This means that the shale rocks will then release oil that is stored in its tight pores. This is one part of the process. Once this happens, isolation plugs are pumped into the well that act as a stoppers from every fracture section. These plugs operate as a air-tight seal in the well-sections. They open up for the completions process once every fracture section is pumped with fluids. After all the fracture sections have been pumped up with fluids, the isolation plugs then open up and the fluids start to flow back up to the top of the surface. The fluids are pumped back up to the surface into the tanks for storage and they are used again during the next drilling operation. While the fluids are flowing and coming back to the surface, the oil and natural gas from the shale formations also start to leave the fractures and flow to the top of the surface. This is pumped in a separate tank and is then delivered for refining and further
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