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Search for nearby well sites that have been hydraulically fractured to see what chemicals were used in the process.
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FracFocus is continuing to evolve and expand its performance and versatility by providing more than a dozen enhancements including:
• Expand the public’s ability to search records
• Improve data accuracy
• Provide extraction of data in a “machine readable” format
• Update educational information on chemical use, oil & gas production and potential environmental impactsThese upgrades will be designed to dramatically enhance the site’s functionality for the public, state regulatory agencies and industry users.
Adding more participating companies and reported wells from across the country, FracFocus’ continued success is the result of state and federal government agencies and the oil and natural gas industry to provide public transparency.
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This technique uses a specially blended liquid which is pumped into a well under extreme pressure causing cracks in rock formations underground. These cracks in the rock then allow oil and natural gas to flow, increasing resource production.
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Casing is the multiple layers of steel and cement inside the drilled hole used to protect water aquifers. The specific length, thickness, strength and composition of casing is regulated at the state level.
Illustration Courtesy of the Texas Oil & Gas Association.
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Use the interactive map to find regulations per state as well as contact information for groundwater protection and oil and natural gas production.
FracFocus machine-readable data now available!
FracFocus is pleased to announce the release of disclosure data to the public in machine-readable (SQL) format.
By clicking the button below you may download a ZIP file that contains a copy of the disclosure database.
More About Chemical Data »
Groundwater Protection: Priority Number One
Oil and natural gas producers have stringent requirements for how wells must be completed. The genesis of these requirements is water safety.
Casing is the first line of defense used to protect freshwater aquifers.
More About Groundwater Protection »
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How is water used in hydraulic fracturing?
Water acts as the carrier fluid for the chemical additives and propping agents (typically sand) that are used to fracture the producing formation.
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How much water is used in hydraulic fracturing?
This varies from well to well and depends upon the well configuration (vertical or horizontal), the number of stages fractured, and the specific characteristics of the formation being fractured. In vertical wells with a single fractured stage it is not uncommon to use less than 50,000 gallons of water during a fracture job, while a multi interval fracture job in a horizontal well can use several million gallons of water. Read more...
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What happens to chemicals after they are pumped downhole?
Chemicals used in hydraulic fracturng are often transformed or degraded by their interaction with formations and formation fluids. For many chemicals of concern a recent presentation made by Dr. Angus McGrath of the environmental consulting company Stantec entitled "Fate and Transport of Select Compounds of Interest in Fracing Fluids" describes the fate of chemicals. It is available on the USEPA website at
http://www.epa.gov/hfstudy/fateandtransportofselectcompoundsofinterestinfracingfluids.pdf
