Fracking

Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a <a href="/facts/Well_stimulation/Ieftjexo">well stimulation</a> technique involving the fracturing of <a href="/facts/Formation_(geology)/mMhpw4G2">formations</a> in <a href="/facts/Bedrock/mn9WCgtX">bedrock</a> by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "fracking fluid" (primarily water, containing sand or other <a href="/facts/Hydraulic_fracturing_proppants/NJqeT6Ca">proppants</a> suspended with the aid of <a href="/facts/Thickening_agent/lNPqbaWy">thickening agents</a>) into a <a href="/facts/Wellbore/3d6xu8E5">wellbore</a> to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which <a href="/facts/Natural_gas/9MYQ7NAP">natural gas</a>, <a href="/facts/Petroleum/IQV0bHVd">petroleum</a>, and <a href="/facts/Brine/xsN2GcLF">brine</a> will flow more freely. When the <a href="/facts/Hydraulic_pressure/KSIqLovc">hydraulic pressure</a> is removed from the well, small grains of <a href="/facts/Hydraulic_fracturing_proppants/NJqeT6Ca">hydraulic fracturing proppants</a> (either sand or <a href="/facts/Aluminium_oxide/wXM9P6pI">aluminium oxide</a>) hold the fractures open.
Fracking, using either hydraulic pressure or acid, is the most common method for <a href="/facts/Well_stimulation/Ieftjexo">well stimulation</a>. Well stimulation techniques help create pathways for oil, gas or water to flow more easily, ultimately increasing the overall production of the well. Both methods of fracking are classed as unconventional, because they aim to permanently enhance (increase) the permeability of the formation. So the traditional division of hydrocarbon-bearing rocks into source and reservoir no longer holds; the source rock becomes the reservoir after the treatment.
Hydraulic fracking is more familiar to the general public, and is the predominant method used in hydrocarbon exploitation, but acid fracking has a much longer history. Although the hydrocarbon industry tends to use fracturing rather than the word fracking, which now dominates in popular media, an industry patent application dating from 2014 explicitly uses the term acid fracking in its title.

Fracking open-in-new

Fracking