So far, much less regulatory burden is being put on the natural gas and petroleum production from “fracking” than has been applied to older typical “gusher” wells and pumped wells drawing from an underground reservoir. It is only a matter of time before the gnomes over in EPA can come up with some sort of pseudo-scientific excuse for applying restrictions to “fracking”, but until then, the procedure may be used under “Generally Regarded As Safe” (GRAS) standards.
If you couple this with the report from Reuters that OPEC is crying uncle and giving up on trying to bankrupt shale hydrocarbons with low prices, it demonstrates the power of American ingenuity....especially in hydrocarbon energy.
I had read that the initial depleted frack only retrieves less than 10% of the available hydrocarbons. So I am not surprised that they are ramping this number in already drilled pathways. Marginal costs must be much lower.
Keeps out guys working, and OPEC fretting. It’s only a matter of time China learns this technology and exploits their hydrocarbons and others. The balance of power shifts.
This is fantastic news. Maybe I’ll move my little solo legal practice from California to North Dakota?