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mbperrin

(7,672 posts)
Sun Jul 21, 2013, 10:09 PM Jul 2013

Why the fracking they're doing now in the oil and gas business cannot be controlled.

The first uncontrolled blowout of a petrochemical basin is occurring in the tar sands of Canada right now.

Toxic goo is coming to the surface and they describe it as 26,000 barrels so far, but that means it is ONE MILLION gallons so far. The industry keeps saying that this is a proven technology, but it's not.

I was in the wellhead business for more than a decade in a management position, and what these people are doing is totally unconscionable.

The reason they don't know how to stop it is because it cannot be stopped.

Think of petro products as being contained in a pinata. You could make a little hole in the pinata, put a pipe in it and empty the pinata that way, which is how conventional wellbore technology has worked for about 150 years.

Or you could pump high pressure into the pinata and make the pipe flow faster. This is what conventional fracking did - loosened the immediate (several dozen feet) area around a perforated borehole. That's been done for 50 or so years.

Now put in so much pressure that the pinata explodes. How will you contain it? You won't. When 100% of the candy is on the ground, it will stop.

That's precisely what today's greedy buggers have done - they've overpressured these formations without knowing exactly where and what is being fractured. This current insult will not quit until all the pressure in the entire formation is exhausted, because the product is not coming through the borehole, but through actual cracks in the ground all the way down to where the petrochemicals are.

Hopefully, this will bankrupt these companies so that this uncontrolled and uncontrollable technique stops.

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Why the fracking they're doing now in the oil and gas business cannot be controlled. (Original Post) mbperrin Jul 2013 OP
Strange how what you're saying sounds a lot like the undersea blowout in the gulf. enough Jul 2013 #1
got a link for the story ? limpyhobbler Jul 2013 #2
All I see in the end (at some point in the future).... ReRe Jul 2013 #3
Thank you for your insights. moondust Jul 2013 #4
Great analysis. Arctic Dave Jul 2013 #5
Bankruptcy is only another sometimes useful bidness strategy these days Fumesucker Jul 2013 #6
most of the cost from this will probably be externalized... dtom67 Jul 2013 #7

enough

(13,259 posts)
1. Strange how what you're saying sounds a lot like the undersea blowout in the gulf.
Sun Jul 21, 2013, 10:51 PM
Jul 2013

Not everything done by humans can be controlled by humans.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
3. All I see in the end (at some point in the future)....
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 12:24 AM
Jul 2013

K&R

.... is a great big hellacious Biblical FIRE. When those pipeline leaks meet up with the ferocious wildfires.

moondust

(19,986 posts)
4. Thank you for your insights.
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 12:30 AM
Jul 2013

I watched "Gasland II" last week and it was even more disturbing than "Gasland I" due to the continued expansion.

If the people who profit from this stuff had to live on the poisoned land, I suspect things would be different.

K/R

 

Arctic Dave

(13,812 posts)
5. Great analysis.
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 12:48 AM
Jul 2013

Unfortunately they won't go bankrupt from the fiasco, they will dump all of the cost on the taxpayer.

Fumesucker

(45,851 posts)
6. Bankruptcy is only another sometimes useful bidness strategy these days
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 12:52 AM
Jul 2013

The same people will be doing the same things under another name before the ink is dry on the bankruptcy of the last company.

dtom67

(634 posts)
7. most of the cost from this will probably be externalized...
Mon Jul 22, 2013, 01:12 AM
Jul 2013

The Public and the Environment will suffer. Profits will be protected....

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