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Natural Gas extraction

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Language: en

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natural gas is a fossil fuel formed from
00:00:08.480 00:00:08.490 when layers of buried plants and animals
00:00:10.310 00:00:10.320 are exposed to intense heat and pressure
00:00:12.049 00:00:12.059 over thousands of years this natural gas
00:00:14.990 00:00:15.000 is odorless and invisible and it burns
00:00:17.420 00:00:17.430 cleaner than coal and oil
00:00:22.120 00:00:22.130 natural gas is used for fuel and
00:00:24.560 00:00:24.570 vehicles chemical feedstock in the
00:00:27.230 00:00:27.240 manufacture of plastics and other
00:00:28.700 00:00:28.710 organic chemicals it is used in homes
00:00:31.310 00:00:31.320 and communities for space heating water
00:00:33.770 00:00:33.780 heating and electricity as well at the
00:00:38.030 00:00:38.040 site of natural gas recovery a vertical
00:00:40.280 00:00:40.290 well is drilled approximately 6,000 feet
00:00:42.110 00:00:42.120 straight down into the ground until the
00:00:43.729 00:00:43.739 shale is reached while drilling the well
00:00:47.330 00:00:47.340 the drill is kept cool and lubricated by
00:00:49.369 00:00:49.379 pumping a pressurized mud solution down
00:00:51.410 00:00:51.420 through the drilling pipe through the
00:00:52.820 00:00:52.830 drill head and out of the three jets
00:00:54.440 00:00:54.450 this removes the cuttings up and out of
00:00:57.590 00:00:57.600 the well once the drill locates the
00:01:01.160 00:01:01.170 shale the drill changes direction and
00:01:03.139 00:01:03.149 the hole is drilled horizontally
00:01:04.639 00:01:04.649 approximately 1000 to 3000 feet into the
00:01:07.700 00:01:07.710 ship once trailing is complete the mud
00:01:09.830 00:01:09.840 solution and cuttings are sucked out of
00:01:11.930 00:01:11.940 the hole and the drill is removed
00:01:14.720 00:01:14.730 the steel casing is then fed the entire
00:01:17.360 00:01:17.370 length of the well the casing is then
00:01:19.370 00:01:19.380 secured in place by cement the cement is
00:01:22.250 00:01:22.260 pumped under pressure to the end of the
00:01:23.780 00:01:23.790 pipe so that there is no cement within
00:01:25.700 00:01:25.710 the inside of the casing this is shown
00:01:27.980 00:01:27.990 right here
00:01:31.770 00:01:31.780 the drill is then sent down the casing
00:01:34.320 00:01:34.330 where it drills through the cement and
00:01:35.760 00:01:35.770 into the shale
00:01:38.710 00:01:38.720 once again the mud solution and cuttings
00:01:41.140 00:01:41.150 are sucked up and out of the well and
00:01:42.820 00:01:42.830 the drill is removed
00:01:45.250 00:01:45.260 perforated pipe gun is then sent down
00:01:47.470 00:01:47.480 and out of the casing and into the newly
00:01:49.240 00:01:49.250 drilled section of the well this is
00:01:51.700 00:01:51.710 where explosives are then fired from the
00:01:53.800 00:01:53.810 gun throughout the perforations and into
00:01:55.990 00:01:56.000 the shale and fracturing fluid is then
00:01:59.140 00:01:59.150 pumped from the surface facility down
00:02:01.060 00:02:01.070 the tube and into the fractures the
00:02:03.460 00:02:03.470 fractures crack expand and branch out
00:02:05.830 00:02:05.840 allowing the natural gas to be extracted
00:02:08.170 00:02:08.180 more easily in multistage fracturing a
00:02:11.920 00:02:11.930 plug is installed before the entrance of
00:02:13.750 00:02:13.760 the recently fractured area and the
00:02:15.730 00:02:15.740 process is repeated this is where the
00:02:19.180 00:02:19.190 fracturing and plugging process is
00:02:21.160 00:02:21.170 repeated the entire length of the well
00:02:22.930 00:02:22.940 to maximize natural gas extraction
00:02:25.030 00:02:25.040 efficiency once all fractures are
00:02:29.290 00:02:29.300 completed the plugs are drilled out in
00:02:30.970 00:02:30.980 the natural gas is able to flow allowing
00:02:33.010 00:02:33.020 for extraction the natural gas is then
00:02:35.050 00:02:35.060 pumped up the well to the surface
00:02:36.520 00:02:36.530 facility for processing so what's the
00:02:39.580 00:02:39.590 economic benefit of natural gas natural
00:02:42.250 00:02:42.260 gas is useful for a number of reasons it
00:02:44.290 00:02:44.300 can be burned to produce energy you're
00:02:47.290 00:02:47.300 sure by now familiar with the idea of
00:02:49.770 00:02:49.780 climate change that every time we burn a
00:02:52.750 00:02:52.760 fossil fuel that contains carbon we
00:02:54.520 00:02:54.530 release carbon dioxide the apps
00:02:56.660 00:02:56.670 that carbon data has been released over
00:03:00.170 00:03:00.180 the last 100 or 200 years to an
00:03:03.470 00:03:03.480 unprecedented rate by us since the
00:03:06.500 00:03:06.510 Industrial Revolution burning coal to
00:03:08.630 00:03:08.640 where we adopted oil to now where we
00:03:10.160 00:03:10.170 have natural gas as well every time you
00:03:12.559 00:03:12.569 do that you put more carbon dioxide in
00:03:14.660 00:03:14.670 the apps here and we heat exacerbate the
00:03:16.190 00:03:16.200 problem so on the one hand you say that
00:03:18.860 00:03:18.870 carbon dioxide has a big negative afm
00:03:21.590 00:03:21.600 type natural gas is big negative every
00:03:23.840 00:03:23.850 time you burn natural gas to make
00:03:25.520 00:03:25.530 electricity you are making this other
00:03:27.500 00:03:27.510 problem worse okay so that's one thing
00:03:30.020 00:03:30.030 to keep in mind so the other things we
00:03:32.930 00:03:32.940 burn okay like oil or coal and
00:03:36.140 00:03:36.150 particular actually put to the same
00:03:37.970 00:03:37.980 amount of energy put more carving the
00:03:39.830 00:03:39.840 action so you could say that eggs coal
00:03:42.530 00:03:42.540 oil seem relatively expensive and it is
00:03:45.979 00:03:45.989 a seemed like the effort to make it
00:03:47.479 00:03:47.489 makes it let makes there's less reason
00:03:49.820 00:03:49.830 to go for the effort to make a coal
00:03:51.050 00:03:51.060 plant if natural gas is quite cheap okay
00:03:54.730 00:03:54.740 and some people would argue that you can
00:03:56.710 00:03:56.720 make whole clean but the most part coal
00:03:58.780 00:03:58.790 is very dirty fuel so it produces a lot
00:04:01.230 00:04:01.240 mercury emissions sulfur dioxide
00:04:04.570 00:04:04.580 emissions and more carbon for the same
00:04:07.270 00:04:07.280 amount of energy than natural gases so
00:04:08.860 00:04:08.870 cheap natural gas would seem to be a
00:04:10.480 00:04:10.490 great win on the other hand very cheap
00:04:13.810 00:04:13.820 natural gas means that it's now cheaper
00:04:16.660 00:04:16.670 to make electricity natural gas than to
00:04:20.410 00:04:20.420 use something like solar wind those will
00:04:23.080 00:04:23.090 actually produce no carbon mountain so
00:04:26.130 00:04:26.140 it's kind of a funny situation cheap
00:04:28.630 00:04:28.640 natural gas or abundant chap natural gas
00:04:31.950 00:04:31.960 on the one hand makes things that cold
00:04:34.240 00:04:34.250 kind of go away which is which is over a
00:04:37.240 00:04:37.250 partial win but on the other hand it
00:04:39.340 00:04:39.350 makes it even more unlikely that we're
00:04:41.830 00:04:41.840 going to invest a lot in solar wind
00:04:43.420 00:04:43.430 geothermal tile power that are much
00:04:46.120 00:04:46.130 cleaner technologies and so in that case
00:04:48.220 00:04:48.230 it's kind of dragging his back and slow
00:04:50.680 00:04:50.690 us down so that's what cheap gas does it
00:04:52.660 00:04:52.670 makes things it changed
00:04:55.650 00:04:55.660 you
00:05:00.220 00:05:00.230 Jessica Varsha and the senior research
00:05:02.450 00:05:02.460 associate at the regional economic
00:05:04.070 00:05:04.080 studies institute here at Towson
00:05:05.510 00:05:05.520 University within the division of
00:05:07.250 00:05:07.260 innovation and applied research the gist
00:05:11.629 00:05:11.639 got it my first question is how does
00:05:13.939 00:05:13.949 natural gas extraction benefit the US
00:05:16.820 00:05:16.830 economy in your opinion how does it
00:05:19.700 00:05:19.710 benefit the US economy in my opinion
00:05:21.140 00:05:21.150 well I would say you know like like most
00:05:23.150 00:05:23.160 things that generate employment you know
00:05:26.960 00:05:26.970 it's an economic development strategy
00:05:28.900 00:05:28.910 and it may you know some experts say
00:05:32.629 00:05:32.639 make the United States more
00:05:35.020 00:05:35.030 self-sufficient rather than having to
00:05:37.420 00:05:37.430 import you know certain types of
00:05:40.879 00:05:40.889 extractive resources there's always the
00:05:44.480 00:05:44.490 the flip side and you know there's
00:05:45.920 00:05:45.930 criticisms of that as well but I would
00:05:47.629 00:05:47.639 say you know for the most part of
00:05:49.040 00:05:49.050 probably creation of additional jobs and
00:05:51.620 00:05:51.630 economic activity in those regions where
00:05:54.050 00:05:54.060 that extraction is taking place what
00:05:57.110 00:05:57.120 impact does natural gas extraction have
00:05:59.689 00:05:59.699 environment sure it's a really good
00:06:01.939 00:06:01.949 question and it's interesting that you
00:06:04.520 00:06:04.530 ask that because you know we've been
00:06:06.050 00:06:06.060 contracted by the Maryland Department
00:06:07.659 00:06:07.669 environment to conduct a comprehensive
00:06:09.800 00:06:09.810 economic impact study of potential
00:06:12.980 00:06:12.990 drilling in the Marcellus Shale in
00:06:14.779 00:06:14.789 Western Maryland and so as you probably
00:06:16.850 00:06:16.860 know
00:06:18.360 00:06:18.370 this type of unconventional natural gas
00:06:20.790 00:06:20.800 drilling and shale formations is is
00:06:22.680 00:06:22.690 fairly recent it's been taking place out
00:06:25.530 00:06:25.540 west for you know probably a decade or
00:06:27.810 00:06:27.820 more but on the East Coast probably less
00:06:30.840 00:06:30.850 a little less than a decade with
00:06:31.950 00:06:31.960 Pennsylvania being probably the poor
00:06:34.830 00:06:34.840 runner and so as a result Maryland is
00:06:36.900 00:06:36.910 interested in estimating with the
00:06:38.969 00:06:38.979 potential economic and you know net
00:06:40.969 00:06:40.979 benefits or consequences will be to the
00:06:45.450 00:06:45.460 economy and as part of that we are
00:06:47.850 00:06:47.860 looking at potential environment
00:06:49.200 00:06:49.210 environmental impacts which often times
00:06:52.080 00:06:52.090 are difficult to value so for instance
00:06:54.180 00:06:54.190 we're using a contingent valuation
00:06:56.189 00:06:56.199 methodology where we are using a survey
00:06:59.610 00:06:59.620 to ask residents and visitors the area
00:07:03.480 00:07:03.490 to elicit their willingness to pay for
00:07:07.710 00:07:07.720 certain environmental values that don't
00:07:09.810 00:07:09.820 necessarily have a value on the market
00:07:12.330 00:07:12.340 and those things are like scenic view
00:07:13.710 00:07:13.720 sheds because oftentimes the Marcellus
00:07:15.900 00:07:15.910 Shale areas are are largely rural the
00:07:19.200 00:07:19.210 landscape may or may not be
00:07:20.219 00:07:20.229 industrialized already there might be
00:07:22.050 00:07:22.060 some history of extractive industry but
00:07:24.330 00:07:24.340 we are finding in a place like Western
00:07:26.279 00:07:26.289 Maryland that there's a high value
00:07:27.990 00:07:28.000 placed on the pristine environment the
00:07:30.570 00:07:30.580 condition it's currently in so as a
00:07:33.120 00:07:33.130 result we're conducting the contingent
00:07:34.770 00:07:34.780 valuation analysis and we're also
00:07:36.990 00:07:37.000 looking at the impact that there may be
00:07:38.730 00:07:38.740 on property values before and after
00:07:41.850 00:07:41.860 drilling just because there is some risk
00:07:43.980 00:07:43.990 to groundwater and as a result in rural
00:07:47.070 00:07:47.080 areas a lot of people are on well water
00:07:49.140 00:07:49.150 as opposed to municipal water so
00:07:52.519 00:07:52.529 it's really important to do your studies
00:07:54.559 00:07:54.569 and get your baseline to see if there's
00:07:56.899 00:07:56.909 impacts to groundwater which is
00:07:58.339 00:07:58.349 perceived as the biggest risk from
00:07:59.989 00:07:59.999 Marcellus Shale drilling there's some
00:08:02.329 00:08:02.339 other risks associated with it that are
00:08:04.069 00:08:04.079 documented some areas you know potential
00:08:07.519 00:08:07.529 you know air air emissions truck truck
00:08:11.659 00:08:11.669 noise and you know impacts to the roads
00:08:14.269 00:08:14.279 and that sort of thing so those are
00:08:15.409 00:08:15.419 things are taken to account and to see
00:08:17.359 00:08:17.369 whether or not they'll actually approve
00:08:18.649 00:08:18.659 to to Maryland natural gas impact on the
00:08:22.219 00:08:22.229 US economy natural gas extraction
00:08:25.069 00:08:25.079 creates less dependency on foreign oil
00:08:27.169 00:08:27.179 because there has been thirty four
00:08:29.119 00:08:29.129 hundred trillion cubic feet of natural
00:08:30.469 00:08:30.479 gas found in North America shale gas
00:08:33.110 00:08:33.120 production alone will create some 1.5
00:08:35.299 00:08:35.309 million jobs by 2015 and 2.4 million by
00:08:38.899 00:08:38.909 2035 this will bring about opportunities
00:08:41.839 00:08:41.849 for investors and corporations it has
00:08:44.179 00:08:44.189 contributed nearly 19 billion dollars in
00:08:47.119 00:08:47.129 tax and royalty revenue at the state
00:08:48.920 00:08:48.930 local and federal level in 2010 and to
00:08:51.530 00:08:51.540 the next 25 years that number could
00:08:53.119 00:08:53.129 exceed 933 billion dollars two states in
00:08:56.720 00:08:56.730 the federal government will become a
00:08:58.490 00:08:58.500 significant US export in the short term
00:09:00.799 00:09:00.809 future consumer choice will be more
00:09:03.019 00:09:03.029 diversified in the future allowing for
00:09:04.790 00:09:04.800 gross domestic product projected to
00:09:06.590 00:09:06.600 reach 118 point two billion dollars in
00:09:09.400 00:09:09.410 2014
00:09:28.940 00:09:28.950 00:09:44.050 00:09:44.060 00:09:52.170 00:09:52.180 to conclude the future of natural gas is
00:09:55.150 00:09:55.160 encouraging and important to the US
00:09:56.680 00:09:56.690 economy because it significantly reduces
00:09:58.990 00:09:59.000 dependence on foreign oil from major
00:10:01.030 00:10:01.040 importers to exporter's of energy
00:10:03.910 00:10:03.920 as a result of the speed and scale of
00:10:06.610 00:10:06.620 shale gas development a heightened
00:10:08.500 00:10:08.510 awareness of natural gas as a key
00:10:10.060 00:10:10.070 component of indigenous energy supply as
00:10:12.310 00:10:12.320 it has emerged and the price of natural
00:10:14.170 00:10:14.180 gas lowered beyond expectations this has
00:10:16.569 00:10:16.579 led producers to seek new markets for
00:10:18.759 00:10:18.769 natural gas such as an expanded role in
00:10:20.740 00:10:20.750 exporting and transportation

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