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What is hydraulic
fracturing?
This half century-old technology is used in oil and natural gas production. This
technique allows oil or natural gas to move more freely from the rock pores
where they are trapped to a producing well that can bring the oil or gas to the
surface.
After a well is drilled into a reservoir rock that contains oil, natural gas,
and water, every effort is made to maximize the production of oil and gas. One
way to improve or maximize the flow of fluids to the well is to connect many
pre-existing fractures and flow pathways in the reservoir rock with a larger
fracture. This larger, man-made fracture starts at the well and extends out into
the reservoir rock for as much as several hundred feet. The man-made or
hydraulic fracture is formed when a fluid is pumped down the well at high
pressures for short periods of time (hours). The high pressure fluid (usually
water with some specialty high viscosity fluid additives) exceeds the rock
strength and opens a fracture in the rock. A propping agent, usually sand
carried by the high viscosity additives, is pumped into the fractures to keep
them from closing when the pumping pressure is released. The high viscosity
fluid becomes a lower viscosity fluid after a short period of time. Both the
injected water and the now low viscosity fluids travel back through the man-made
fracture to the well and up to the surface.
Hydro-fracturing
within the water well industry
GLOBAL WARMING will be the largest single problem confronting our water
supplies in the coming years. If you are having water problems with your
drilled well today you can expect that they will only get worse in the years to
come. Well fracturing can help solve low-producing or dry well problems.
HYDRO FRACTURING is the process of
using water under extreme pressure to break away the blockages that are
preventing an underground water source from flowing freely into a well.
With years of proven success in the oil fields this is not a new technology.
What is new within the last 20 years is the application of hydro fracturing
within the water well industry. High-pressure machines fracture the
underground rock and open up the already existing fissures in the rock allowing
water to freely flow into your well.
MODERN MACHINES capable of producing
thousands of pounds pressure per square inch (psi) and pumping hundreds of
gallons per minute (gpm) create extremely high pressures in the well, which
increases the likelihood of opening blocked water veins and producing a higher
output well. By fracturing an existing drilled well, water flow can be
improved even in the hole is considered dry, or has gone dry after many
productive years.
THE COST OF DRILLING a new well can
be considerable with no guarantee of success. Fracturing an existing well
is less disruptive and less expensive; and with a reported success rate of 99%
in the 50' to 300' depth, well fracturing can help homeowners avoid unnecessary
costs.
WATER QUALITY can be improved by
isolating the areas where good water is located. For example if salt or
sulphur are found at the bottom of a well, the lower area can be plugged and a
fracture created above, where better quality water is located.
PROFESSIONAL OPERATORS are licensed
by the Ministry of The Environment.
More
Information:
Pine Veau Fracturing
Sydenham, Ontario
1-888-286-1116
www.drywell.ca
Google "water well fracturing"
www.google.ca
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