Why is fracking bad?
Controversial but effective, hydraulic fracturing enables us to tap into shale gas reserves trapped deep underground, but how does this mining process work?
As we exhaust more easily accessible natural gas reserves, countries across the globe are increasingly turning to shale gas. But how do you release gas that’s imprisoned in millions of tiny pores inside shale rock, deep beneath Earth’s surface? The answer is hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Fracking involves drilling deep into rock and pumping a highly pressurised jet of water, sand and chemicals down the wellbore. This forces a network of tiny cracks to open up and spread through the impermeable rock, allowing pockets of gas within the rock to seep out.