Fracking Process Releases Oil In North Dakota’s Bakken Development

The oil find in North Dakota’s Bakken area (Northwest North Dakota) began many years ago around Tioga North Dakota; today, oil development has sprawled across the area due to the discovery of large oil reservoirs buried in Shale Rock formations. Oil is released from the Shale by a process of fracturing the rock structure; this process is called fracking. Although there have been many concerns regarding the safety of that fracking process, it is really a very safe and effective way of releasing oil from the Shale Rock formation. The oil recovered requires only very little refining as it is a variety known as Light Sweet Crude Oil. Other types of oil such as Sand Oil, requires much more refining effort to prepare it for sale/use. The ever present Natural Gas is usually flared off until some later point in the oil recovery cycle; this burning is really a waste of a precious resource, which North Dakota has acknowledged, and political pressure is being applied in an attempt to be more conservative of the Natural Gas resource by requiring drillers to more quickly provide infrastructure and processing for conveyance of this important resource to refineries for cleansing and marketing. Liquefied Petroleum Gas is one form of Natural Gas use which requires compression and cooling of the gas to a temperature of around minus 162 degrees fahrenheit which results in a compression ratio of around 600; which accordingly provides much more energy per volume than the original state of the Natural Gas. Our Country abounds in Natural Gas supply and is used primarily for heating and as fuel for transportation. The Natural Gas must be refined to remove impurities and for it to be safe and viable for public use. Natural gas often has a Methane Gas origin which may have poisonous properties and other impurities which are addressed during the refining process. At this point let’s address some of the fracking concerns that have been brought to our attention:

1. Ground Water Pollution:

Fears have surfaced, that ground water pollution could occur as a consequence of the fracking operation, however, it’s important to realize that fracking takes place at great depths of around two miles or approximately 10,000 feet, which is far below ground water tables, therefore, pollution of ground water has never been traced to this operation. As an aside, also realize that it is common for fracking to take place at a location which is 10,000 feet or farther laterally beyond the depth location.

2. Sink Hole Hazard:

Another concern is that sink holes may occur at fracking sites as a consequence of removing oil mass from the Shale Rock formations, however, it’s important to realize that the Shale Rock formations affected remain in place after oil is extracted, which prevents sink holes from occurring.

3. Causes Earthquakes:

Finally, fear of fracking causing earthquakes has been expressed, especially in earthquake prone areas of the Country, however, this concern although widely hailed as a good reason to eliminate the fracking process, has never been proved or substantiated in any way to be valid or even suspect when earthquakes have presented.

In conclusion, the fracking process has proved to be a very reliable and effective way of safely extracting oil from its Shale Rock formations. This oil boom has already helped lower gasoline prices, which in turn helps to boost our economy as family travel is of lower cost, products ship to market at lower cost, businesses are able to offer lower cost products to customers, etc. Hopefully, as Natural Gas is also added to supply, the effect will be similar, as home heating costs will decline, the cost of producing goods will decline and we as consumers will ultimately benefit from this changing supply & demand story.