Water mixed with chemicals is then pumped into the wellbore under pressure. Polyacrylamide is added to water to reduce friction, which increases the rate at which the liquid may be pumped into the wellbore. Whereas high-viscosity fracking liquids may be pumped at a rate of 60 barrel per minute, slickwater may be pumped at a rate of up to 100 barrels per minute. The high pumping rate of slickwater creates microfractures in the gas shale. High-viscosity fracking liquids create larger fractures. Surfactants, including butanol and monobutyl ether, and scale inhibitors, such as hydrochloric acid and ethylene glycol, are oftenz added to slickwater. Slickwater may use up to 5 million gallons (19 million liters) of water per fracking operation.

By 2035, shale gas may make up half of all natural gas produced in the United States.

U.S. from West Virginia to New York hold an estimated 493 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Proponents of fracking assert that drilling methods are safe

Opponents claim that industry representatives understate the negative environmental risks

possible groundwater contamination,

seismic activity.

in 2010 used 70 to 140 billion gallons of water,

three to seven million gallons of water, 30 percent of which is unrecoverable from the well.

n the late 1940s, geologists at Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation investigated the use of hydraulic fracturing to release oil and gas trapped in source rock. While the first hydraulic fracturing experiment in 1947 was relatively unsuccessful, Standolind Oil and Gas continued to refine the fracturing techniques, eventually patenting the process. Standolind Oil and Gas licensed their technology to Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company, which conducted the first commercial hydraulic fracturing projects in 1949.