Hydraulic Fracturing

This standard provides environmentally sound practices, including reclamation guidelines, for domestic onshore oil and gas production operations.

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance and highlight industry recommended practices for well construction and integrity for those wells that will be hydraulically fractured. The guidance provided here will help to ensure that shallow groundwater aquifers and the environment will be protected, while also enabling economically viable development of oil and natural gas resources.

The purpose of this guidance document is to identify and describe many of the current industry best practices used to minimize environmental and societal impacts associated with the acquisition, use, management, treatment, and disposal of water and other fluids associated with the process of hydraulic fracturing.

The purpose of this guidance document is to identify and describe practices currently used in the oil and natural gas industry to minimize surface environmental impacts.

This standard contains practices for isolating potential flow zones, an integral element in maintaining well integrity.

This study estimates the economic impacts of current and future Marcellus development activity.

The U.S. economy could suffer a severe blow if federal regulators demand duplicative oversight of hydraulic fracturing, a commonly used well-stimulation and completion technology already regulated by the states, part two of a three-part study by IHS Global Insight has found.

Application of hydraulic fracturing techniques, to increase oil and gas recovery, is estimated to account for 30 percent of U.S. recoverable oil and gas reserves and has been responsible for the addition of more than 7 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to meet the nation’s energy needs.

Shale gas is one of the most rapidly growing forms of natural gas. It, along with other non-conventional forms of natural gas, such as tight gas and coalbed methane, will make a major contribution to future North American gas production. Unconventional gas production is forecast to increase from 42 percent of total US gas production in 2007 to 64 percent in 2020.

Explore the questions and answers regarding hydraulic fracturing and its vital importance to all Americans.