![]() The land can then be used for other activities and there is no sign that a well was once there. When all of the recovered oil and natural gas has been produced, Colorado law requires that the well is permanently plugged and the land is returned to the way it was before the drilling operations started. STEP 7: Well Abandonment and Land Restoration Once fracking is complete, the production site shrinks to the size of about a two-car garage. Oil and natural gas flows up from the well bore and fracturing fluid is then recovered and recycled and used in other fracking operations. Once fracking is completed, production begins. STEP 6: Production and Fracking Fluid Recycling This might be 20 or 30 times-but a process that typically takes only a few days to finish. The cycles of steps 4 and 5 are repeated, gradually working up the hole until all the lateral length of the wellbore has been fracked. Using specialized instruments to monitor pressure and data from the well in real time, fracking fluid, which is 99.5% water and sand and 0.5% chemicals, many of which are found in everyday household products, is pumped at high pressure through the perforating holes to create paper-thin cracks in the shale rock, freeing the oil and natural gas trapped inside. Now that the first stage of the well is open, it’s time to unlock the oil and natural gas that has been trapped in the rock. Rigorous tests are performed to ensure the pipe is impermeable before any production of natural gas or oil can occur.īefore drillers can tap the oil and natural gas, a perforating gun is typically lowered into the ground and fired into the rock layer in the deepest part of the well, creating holes that connect the rock holding the oil and natural gas and the wellhead. Once the target distance is reached, the drill pipe is removed and steel pipe is pushed to the bottom. These technological advancements mean today’s well sites are far fewer in number and also smaller than they used to be just 10 or 20 years ago. ![]() Unlike vertical drilling, horizontal drilling minimizes the impact and scale of aboveground land disturbance by allowing drillers to use only one drill pad for multiple wells instead of multiple pads having a single well each. There’s a phenomenal amount of technology required to keep the hole drilling in the same 10-foot-interval for two miles, but this process allows the well to access oil and natural gas across a longer distance rather than just the energy directly beneath the well pad. A steel casing is then cemented in place so there is no risk of polluting precious water aquifers.Īfter this the “long hole” is drilled and after reaching a depth about 1000 feet above the underground area where oil and natural gas is trapped, the hole is directionally steered to turn it horizontal and out-maybe another mile or two in distance-following the same rock bed. The first stage is to drill what is called the surface hole down to a depth of 100 feet below the deepest known aquifer. A well is drilled straight down into the ground beneath the pad. Now It’s time to build the infrastructure necessary to unlock the oil and natural gas trapped more than a mile below the ground. ![]() From start to finish, everything from traffic plans and designated access roads to noise barriers and safety procedures is carefully planned and monitored according to state and local laws.įirst the drill rig is brought to the location-maybe 20 or 30 truck loads-and put together. The aboveground infrastructure-pads and access roads-are built, setting up the land for the next step: drilling. ![]()
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