GM Spokesperson admits energy to charge cars comes from coal
Just like the title says... Link
Forum Discussion
FWC, I'll hit some of the high points. First, fresh water is a shallow exception. Drill deep enough and you will hit salt water, almost all sedimentary rocks formed in oceans and the salt water is still there. First salt (an old drillers term) lets you know you are deep enough to find oil and gas. Easy to know, the old guys tasted the cuttings bailed from the wells. In large parts of KY, might be as shallow as 300 feet. Don't drill your water well too deep! Lots of places have salt licks, mineral springs, and even Burning Springs (both NY and WV), where the salt naturally reaches the surface. Oil seeps too, you know the La Brea tar pits in CA. The petroleum industry probably started with a Chinese fella in the salt business. He was drilling salt water wells and evaporating the water from the salt with wood fires. His wells produced associated gas, and he got tired of chopping wood and decided to us a gas fire to evaporate the water.
Most gas and oil wells produce far more water in their life times, than was ever used in fracturing. However, it is salty. Some is disposed of in other wells. Often it is used in a waterflood to keep the pressure up in an oilfield. This water is never counted, because it is not waste. It is just reported as waterflood. This really helps in producing oil.
Some wells, such as the Marcellus in southwestern PA, might not produce the frac water back. Had a good fight with drilling, since drilling normally pays to dispose of frac water. They did not want to leave their AFE's (purchase orders) open for more than a year. Some sneaky production guy might charge all kinds of things, other than water to the AFE. Why? I think there are crystalized salts in the naturally fractured (God's doing) Marcellus. I retired 10 years ago, the question might have an answer by now.
As to percentage recycled, the answer will vary from field to field, but I will tell you this. Every barrel hauled and recycled, is one barrel not hauled and disposed of, and is one additional barrel of fresh water that does not need to be hauled. Also, in the East at least one company was using a multiple effect evaporator system, to produce salt and distilled water from oilfield brine. The distilled water was then used to dilute down untreated frac water for the next well. That once again was 10 years ago. Oh, I almost forgot one company was using turd farm (sewage treatment)outfall for frac water. Another outfit was thinking of drilling into abandoned coal mines and using that water.
Don't forget that the bulk of water on the planet is salt, both the seas and the ground water below first salt. The sun continues to produce fresh water every day, and if not used it makes it back to the ocean, where it becomes salt water again. Then around and around it goes. This argument doesn't count in dry areas, where they "mine" well water for crops and consumption.
Sooner, or later, there will be a chemistry break though that will allow fracturing to use salt saturated water. Then all will be recycled.
Most gas and oil wells produce far more water in their life times, than was ever used in fracturing. However, it is salty. Some is disposed of in other wells. Often it is used in a waterflood to keep the pressure up in an oilfield. This water is never counted, because it is not waste. It is just reported as waterflood. This really helps in producing oil.
Some wells, such as the Marcellus in southwestern PA, might not produce the frac water back. Had a good fight with drilling, since drilling normally pays to dispose of frac water. They did not want to leave their AFE's (purchase orders) open for more than a year. Some sneaky production guy might charge all kinds of things, other than water to the AFE. Why? I think there are crystalized salts in the naturally fractured (God's doing) Marcellus. I retired 10 years ago, the question might have an answer by now.
As to percentage recycled, the answer will vary from field to field, but I will tell you this. Every barrel hauled and recycled, is one barrel not hauled and disposed of, and is one additional barrel of fresh water that does not need to be hauled. Also, in the East at least one company was using a multiple effect evaporator system, to produce salt and distilled water from oilfield brine. The distilled water was then used to dilute down untreated frac water for the next well. That once again was 10 years ago. Oh, I almost forgot one company was using turd farm (sewage treatment)outfall for frac water. Another outfit was thinking of drilling into abandoned coal mines and using that water.
Don't forget that the bulk of water on the planet is salt, both the seas and the ground water below first salt. The sun continues to produce fresh water every day, and if not used it makes it back to the ocean, where it becomes salt water again. Then around and around it goes. This argument doesn't count in dry areas, where they "mine" well water for crops and consumption.
Sooner, or later, there will be a chemistry break though that will allow fracturing to use salt saturated water. Then all will be recycled.
