Historical Utah fracking information, 1850-2015
 in Utah |
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This page contains historical information about fracking in Utah. For more current information about fracking in Utah, see this article.
As of 2014, detailed information about the extent to which fracking was used in Utah was limited. The information below describes fracking and oil and gas production in Utah 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
The first reported discovery of oil in Utah occurred in 1850. Commercial production did not begin until 1948 when a well was drilled in the Uinta Basin that produced 300 barrels of oil per day. Natural gas was first discovered in the state in 1891 on the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. As of 2014, the state had produced more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil and more than 6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.[4][5]
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, "Utah 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
- ↑ Utah History to Go, "The Growth of Utah's Petroleum Industry," accessed July 29, 2014
- ↑ Utah Geological Survey, "100 Years of Exploration," accessed July 29, 2014
