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2 - Unconventional Shale Gas and Oil Extraction in the Appalachian Basin

from Part I - Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2022

By
John F. Stolz  and
W. Michael Griffin
Edited by
John Stolz ,
Daniel Bain  and
Michael Griffin
John Stolz
Affiliation:
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh
Daniel Bain
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Michael Griffin
Affiliation:
Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
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Summary

The United States has an abundance of shale plays and unconventional oil and gas drilling now occurs in over 30 states. Major development has occurred in North Dakota, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. The technological advances included the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, new slick water formulations, and improvements in drilling technologies and fracking design such as “zipper fracking”. The upstream sector includes pre-drilling activities, pad preparation, drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and completion. The midstream sector includes pipeline construction and maintenance and processing facilities that separate the products of mixed gas. These processing facilities can be quite extensive, especially in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and the panhandle of West Virginia where wet gas predominates. This review presents an overview of unconventional gas extraction in the Appalachian Basin as currently practiced in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Keywords

horizontal drillinghydraulic fracturingproppantshale
Type
Chapter
Information
Environmental Impacts from the Development of Unconventional Oil and Gas Reserves , pp. 19 - 43
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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