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Historical Alaska fracking information, 1957-2015
 in Alaska |
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This page contains historical information about fracking in Alaska. For more current information about fracking in Alaska, see this article.
As of 2014, detailed information about the extent to which fracking was used in Alaska was unavailable. The information below describes fracking and oil and gas production in Alaska generally.
Fracking background
- See also: Fracking
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a method of oil and natural gas extraction. The process involves injecting fluid into subterranean rock formation at a high pressure, creating a fracture network that allows the crude oil and natural gas inside dense rocks to flow into a wellbore and be extracted at the surface. The fluid used in this process is made up of sand and water, which comprise 95 percent of the fluid, and other chemical additives, which comprise less than 5 percent of the fluid.[1]
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), there were approximately 23,000 hydraulically fractured wells in the United States in 2000. By 2015, there were an estimated 300,000 hydraulically fractured wells. To learn more about fracking, see this article.[2][3]
History
According to the Resource Development Council, significant oil reserves were first discovered in Alaska in 1957, on the Kenai Peninsula at Swanson River. Alaska was admitted to the union as a state in 1959. In 1967, the Prudhoe Bay oil field was discovered on the state's North Slope. The Prudhoe Bay field is the largest oil field in North America. In 1969, the Kuparuk oil field, the second largest on the continent, was discovered.[4]
As of 2015, four of the 10 largest oil fields in North America were located on Alaska's North Slope.[4]
Fracking in the 50 states
Click on a state below to read more about energy in that state.
See also
External links
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Alaska Profile"
- Frac Focus, "National Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Registry"
Footnotes
- ↑ Frack Wire, “What is Fracking,” accessed January 28, 2014
- ↑ University of Oklahoma, "Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Resources," accessed March 12, 2014
- ↑ U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Hydraulic fracturing accounts for about half of current U.S. crude oil production," March 15, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Resource Development Council, "Alaska's Oil and Gas Industry," accessed July 22, 2014
