The well is drilled vertically for two miles and then travels horizontally for a further two miles. It uses cement and steel pipe casing with an overall diameter of 24 inches, reduced to 13.5 inches after 0.25 mile and further reduced to 8.75 inches at 0.6 mile depth. The cement and steel are used to prevent seepage from pipe into groundwater. 350 pieces of pipe, weighing 87 tons are used.
Once the well is drilled and safe, fracturing fluid is pumped at extreme pressure into the deep rock beneath the Earth’s surface. This fluid consists of 80.5% water, 19% proppant (a combination of natural quartz sand and man-made ceramics) and 0.5% chemicals (additives, many toxic, used to inhibit bacterial growth, minimize friction and increase viscosity).
During the life of this one well, 2 million gallons of water, 4 million pounds of proppant and 350+ barrels of chemicals would be used. Before it is possible to estimate the recoverable quantity of shale gas from that which is in-place, several such wells may need to drilled over an extended period. With current low prices of natural gas worldwide and likely environmental damage to England with the highest population density in Europe, government should ban fracking as in Germany.
Nagindas Khajuria
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