Jones revealed that Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) is experimenting on hydraulic-fracturing fluids composed solely of green components, in wells during the Utica Shale Development and Growth Forum held in Columbus, Ohio.
Hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking is a technologically advanced process used by energy producers to recover oil and natural gas from deep shale formation safely. It involves creating fissures or fractures in underground formations to allow oil or natural gas to flow. A majority of natural gas wells drilled in the United States use hydraulic fracturing.
Environmentalists believed that hydraulic fracturing poses threat to water supplies because energy producers pump hazardous components such as hydrochloric acid or diesel fuel and other additives into the shale formations to create fractures.
According to Jones, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) does not have any result yet on the testing, and the primary challenge in project is the cost of the experiment. He said, “It’s not quite there yet. The main concern with testing something like this, is you just spent $4 to $6 million to drill a well and taking an untested fracking system, and shooting it down a well could ruin a reservoir, and you’d be throwing away all that money.”
During the conference, Jones pointed out that Chesapeake Energy’s main objective in testing green fluids in hydraulic fracturing is to reduce the damages from surface spills to lakes, creeks, and rivers that lie alongside drilling sites. In addition, it will also help decrease the workers’ exposure to potentially harmful substances.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) is the second largest oil and natural gas producer in the United States. The company is experimenting with different environmentally friendly components, to be used as possible alternatives for hydraulic fracturing. The test is conducted in different shale formations.
According to a report from Bloomberg, some of the largest fracking companies have been exploring other options to provide environmentally friendly fluids. Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), one of the world’s largest fracking companies is now offering “CleanStim,” which uses food-safe ingredients to suppress the growth of subterranean bacteria that can form a thick gunk that blocks oil and gas flow. The company also developed a process in killing bacteria in fracking fluid, by using ultraviolet light in combination with “CleanWave,” a recycling process that uses an electrical charge to separate contaminants to clean the water.
Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE:BHI), the world’s third-largest provider of fracking services, offers “VaporFrac,” a fluid used to replaces almost all of the water used in fracking, with nitrogen-based foam.
One of the directors of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) previously bought shares in the company, worth $1.5 million in an open market. Peter Lynch, a well-known money manager, opined that executives generally purchase shares in their companies because they believe the value of the stock will go up.
