Use of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" by the oil and gas industry
has received attention, particularly in its application to U.S. shale
gas production. This suggested fracking might pose environmental
concerns. It's worth reviewing fracking in Saskatchewan, 50 years of
safe use and the regulatory regime for responsible and sustainable
development.
Hydraulic fracturing is the process of opening up
geological formations to let natural gas or oil flow more freely under
controlled conditions. Water, sand and, sometimes, chemical additives
are pumped into a geological formation to create fractures, allowing gas
or oil to flow.
In Saskatchewan, fracking occurs a minimum of
hundreds of metres below the water table and, in some cases, thousands,
beneath layers of solid rock. Near surface, the wellbore through which
fracking fluids flow is protected by layers of steel and cement to
protect groundwater.
Saskatchewan has no unconventional gas
production like the shale gas in the U.S. In Saskatchewan, multistage
fracking is only used on horizontal wells to produce oil. While its use
has increased, it has been applied safely in this province for more than
50 years on roughly 33,500 oil and gas wells. The combined technologies
of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have unlocked the
energy riches of the renowned Bakken Formation, which would have
otherwise gone largely undeveloped.
Technologies such as fracking are
important to the growth of our oil and gas sector, which accounts for
about 20 per cent of provincial gross domestic product and provides jobs
for over 32,000.
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