Let's close the information gap about fracking

The Obama administration issued the framework on Friday of a long-term study on whether fracking for natural gas pollutes drinking water, but will not make conclusions until 2014 about the controversial technique that is helping to fuel a domestic drilling boom. Critics of the Environmental Protection Agency study, called for by Congress in 2010, complain it does not closely examine the impact of drillers’ injecting waste water deep underground, a practise that has been linked to small earthquakes.

Both sides are using movies to try to win the fracking debate, though actor Matt Damon says viewers should not assume the movie he stars in, Promised Land is “a rabid anti-fracking polemic.” Not so long ago, fracking was a technical term little known beyond the energy industry. Now it’s coming to Hollywood, as the fierce battle between environmentalists and oil firms is played out in several forthcoming films.

Lots of people are talking about a new study linking fracking activity to the largest earthquake instrumentally recorded in Oklahoma.

Michael Filloon submits: Fracking is a lucrative business. With the oil supply and demand becoming heavier on the demand side, companies such as Brigham (BEXP), EOG Resources (EOG), and Continental (CLR) are drilling horizontals faster than you can say frack.

By CommodityHQ: By Jared Cummans The $6 trillion global energy industry has undergone a lot of changes over its long history, from the first successful oil tanker developed by Sweden in 1878 to the first mobile steel barges for offshore drilling developed by the Texas company in the early 1930s. But, in the modern era, hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") stands out as the single most important innovation.

ByCory Renauer:Despite worldwide moratoriums on fracking of new wells, natural gas prices continue to hover around $3 per MMBtu, up from a frighteningly low $2 per MMBtu. The natural gas industry it seems has outsmarted itself and overproduced while at the same time a global economic slowdown is reducing demand. This chart from the US Energy Information Administration shows a clear inverse relationship between domestic production and price.

Last Wednesday, I posted a link to a Bloomberg article about "super-fracking" and commented that the ongoing advances in fracking technology might mean that the "shale revolution" is just beginning.  Here are some excerpts from a longer and more detailed Bloomberg article about how "super-fracking" could revolutionize fracking by significantly lowering the costs of unlocking even  more and deeper reserves of shale gas and tight oil than were accessible by traditional fracking: