Historical Illinois fracking information, 1853-2015
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This page contains historical information about fracking in Illinois. For more current information about fracking in Illinois, see this article.
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
Oil and natural gas drilling began in Illinois in 1853. As of 2014, Illinois had produced 4 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas since production began.[4][5] From 1940 to 1950 the Illinois Basin, a fossil fuels repository stretching from southern Illinois to northwest Kentucky and southwest Indiana, was the third-largest oil producing basin in the United States. Production fell after World War II, but the creation and refinement of drilling technologies, including horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, made drilling for once uneconomical oil and natural gas reserves possible.[6][7][8]
On February 26, 2014, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) issued a permit to Strata-X to drill a test well totaling no more than a true measured depth of 9,300 feet.[9]
Laws and regulations
2013
In 2013, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act. The law granted the Illinois Department of Natural Resources the authority to issue permits to companies to use hydraulic fracturing or fracking to extract oil and gas. This law established requirements for most aspects of well site preparation, well drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and reclamation. It also set up permitting/reporting requirements, water quality testing provisions, legislative oversight provisions, taxes, penalties, and environmental protection provisions.[10][11]
See bill: Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act
Fracking in the 50 states
Click on a state below to read more about energy in that state.
See also
External links
- Office of Oil and Gas Resource Management
- U.S. Energy Information Administration "Illinois 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
- ↑ One barrel of oil produces about 19 gallons of gasoline.
- ↑ U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Frequently Asked Questions," May 30, 2013, accessed March 18, 2014
- ↑ Free Republic, "The New Albany Shale" October 24, 2013
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedIllinois Basin - ↑ U.S. Energy Information Administration, "Illinois State Energy Profile," March 27, 2014
- ↑ Southern illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment, "Strata-X Receives Permit to Drill Second Horizontal Well," February 26, 2014
- ↑ ThinkProgress, "Illinois Adopts Nation's Strictest Fracking Regulations," June 19, 2013
- ↑ Illinois State Assembly, "Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act," accessed March 1, 2014
