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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Production & Offshore

Hydraulic fracturing

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

nounCommon term

In oil, gas & mining, hydraulic fracturing means: Pumping water, sand and chemicals into a well at very high pressure to crack the rock, so oil or gas can flow more easily from tight formations such as shale.

In Turkish: hidrolik çatlatma, frak

How it is used

Called fracking in the news and 'frac' in the industry (a frac job, frac fleet, frac sand). Combined with horizontal drilling, it made the US shale boom possible. It is debated because of water use, induced earthquakes and possible groundwater contamination.

Example sentences

  1. Each horizontal well is completed with 40 stages of hydraulic fracturing.

  2. Some countries have banned hydraulic fracturing over environmental concerns.

Common collocations

  • frac job
  • frac sand
  • fracturing fluid
  • multi-stage fracturing
  • well completionThe work done after drilling to make a well ready to produce safely, such as running production tubing, perforating the casing and installing valves.
  • permeabilityHow easily fluids can flow through a rock, which depends on how well its pores are connected. It is measured in darcies or millidarcies (mD).
  • reservoirA layer of porous rock deep underground that holds oil or gas in the tiny spaces between its grains, with rock above it that stops the fluids escaping.
  • flow rateThe amount of oil, gas or water that flows from a well or through a pipe in a given time, such as barrels per day or cubic metres per hour.

More terms: Production & Offshore

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