FAQ's Search Results
Yes. Research into recycling frac flowback water and use of saline water from the Dakota Formation is being funded.
The natural gas produced in association with the Bakken/Three Forks oil is much different than the natural gas we use in our homes and businesses. Consumer quality natural gas is primarily made up of methane, while raw wellhead gas may contain a mixture of methane, propane, ethane, butane, nitrogen, and other compounds. It is at a processing plant that the raw natural gas stream is cleaned and separated into its various components for consumer use. North Dakota has seen many new plants constructed or planned in order to keep pace with growing production. For more information about natural gas processing, please visit Adventures in Energy.
The primary new source for increased fresh water supplies is expected to be the City of Williston intake.
A frac job or fracture stimulation is a process to increase the production rate of an oil or gas well. A fluid, usually water containing surfactants or gelling agents, is pumped down the well at high enough pressure and rate to open cracks in the rock followed by more fluid containing sand. When the fracturing fluid flows back out of the well, the sand remains and holds the cracks open so oil and gas can flow to the well much faster.
The typical new Bakken well requires about one million gallons (3 acre feet) of water to drill and complete. The vast majority of this is surface water purchased form city treatment facilities. By comparison the average application rate is 2.48 acre-feet per acre for center pivot irrigation in the United States.
