Fracing pond question

Hydraulic Fracturing
1

I am signing a lease in Reeves County, TX. I have asked the question to their leasing agent about what materials and fluids go into a frac pond, which they are requiring in the lease. Told them I didn't need to know anything except the base components. They have agreed to line the pond to avoid ground penetration. No reply yet.

Can anyone tell me what chemicals/fluids typically would be in a frac pond and what is the pond used for? Thanks,

Dan

2

Dan:

You can contact the Railroad Commission of Texas and inquire about this matter. I believe that companies are required to devulge what chemicals are used in fracking and they would probably have a record of these chemicals. Hope this helps.

3

FracFocus has a good list of chemicals that are used in completions:

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

4

Dan,

Some states (i.e. Wyoming) require that the operating company submit to the state every chemical that will be used in a frac job. I do not believe Texas is one of them. The frac pond will be used to flow back frac fluid from the well. Ideally, the water will evaporate leaving behind any chemicals that can be disposed of at an approved disposal site.

The base fluid for a frac will be freshwater, sometimes treated with potassium chloride. Generally, the water will be gelled with guar gum (the same stuff your chewing gum is made from). There are a number of other chemicals that may be used including borates, methanol, friction reducers, breakers, etc.

I have attached an example frac proposal (public data from the state of Wyoming) that should give you a little bit of an idea of what goes in to the frac fluid. The final page is a list of every chemical that is to be pumped as well as its corresponding CAS number. The CAS number identifies the specific components of the chemical. Some, however, are considered trade secrets and may not be available. Hope that helps a little bit.

2919-ExampleFracProposal.pdf (2.14 MB)
5

Looks like the website R.T. gave above has a pretty exhaustive list of CAS numbers.

6

Thank you


charles s mallory said:

Dan:

You can contact the Railroad Commission of Texas and inquire about this matter. I believe that companies are required to devulge what chemicals are used in fracking and they would probably have a record of these chemicals. Hope this helps.

7

This looks very helpful. Thanks

Jason Stewart said:

Dan,

Some states (i.e. Wyoming) require that the operating company submit to the state every chemical that will be used in a frac job. I do not believe Texas is one of them. The frac pond will be used to flow back frac fluid from the well. Ideally, the water will evaporate leaving behind any chemicals that can be disposed of at an approved disposal site.

The base fluid for a frac will be freshwater, sometimes treated with potassium chloride. Generally, the water will be gelled with guar gum (the same stuff your chewing gum is made from). There are a number of other chemicals that may be used including borates, methanol, friction reducers, breakers, etc.

I have attached an example frac proposal (public data from the state of Wyoming) that should give you a little bit of an idea of what goes in to the frac fluid. The final page is a list of every chemical that is to be pumped as well as its corresponding CAS number. The CAS number identifies the specific components of the chemical. Some, however, are considered trade secrets and may not be available. Hope that helps a little bit.

8

Thanks. This is good to know. At least now I have some sense of what we are dealing with.

Reagan "R.T." Dukes said:

FracFocus has a good list of chemicals that are used in completions:

http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used