Chimera Energy develops fracking technique that uses no water

now this is progress indeed.I hope they may this process compulsory

"the promise of centuries of cheap, clean and abundant energy"... Maybe this is the chimera!?

"It is one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of the energy industry." Did you get this straight from an oil industry PR document? Have you not heard about the earthquakes this process has caused here in Britain. Please, show a bit more objectivity.

Hi Jason, I suspect the true statement of the matter is that;

"It IS one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of the energy industry."....

....AND it causes mild/shallow earthquakes .....

As it seems that we cannot burn all this gas without messing with our climate, sea level rise and ocean acidity, I have a suggestion:

First Purify the gas to a very high proportion of Methane

Then convert the gas to Carbon Black and Hydrogen using a cold plasma process (about half the energy content is lost).

Use the Hydrogen as a fuel.

Use the Carbon Black as a soil improver.

There is no Carbon Dioxide released. For more information look at the process being developed at the Norwegian company Agroplas. They suggest using Biogas, but can we use Natural Gas in the same way?

Do you think the governments that earn tax revenues will take less than they do now, I doubt it, they will have reduce the tax revenue massively before we get cheap energy. The UK pays one of the highest taxes on energy, I doubt very much David Cameron will say "yeh sure lets have cheap energy" and reduce his governments spending. Nice idea though.

"However, it has raised the concerns of some environmentalists." That should read, it has raised concerns of ALL environmentalists.

what's the cost (propane has value) and when it reverts to gas isn't there the possibility of a big Kaboom?

Huh? "the promise of centuries of cheap, clean and abundant energy free of Middle Eastern control." While the latter makes sense, freeing form "Middle Eastern control" but "cheap, clean and abundant energy" Where, what and how? Petroleum? And that's not even mentioning earthquakes. Yikes!

...and when Chimera is granted a patent so the details of their process can be revealed, aren't they likely to charge a high premium to license its use to others (competitors) in the industry who may not care a whole lot about the implications from using water or their own "special mix" of downhole lubricants and slurry to perform the same or similar sort of fracturing? Absent regulatory constraint on the use of potentially toxic liquids in the fracking mix to avoid possibility of groundwater contamination, Chimera may have a great idea but not necessarily a game-changer for the entire industry so far as the general public and the health impacts on underground water supplies might be concerned.

Anything would seem like an improvemnet over current, massively polluting methods currently imployed.

There is nothing natural about natural gas. Methane is natural gas and is in seemingly endless supply. Where is the methane industry?

The oil industry is in the best ($$$) position to develop renewable energy. If we weren't so intent on paying them not to do so, they could easily lead us into a clean and green future. We just need to properly place the insentives; it would happen almost overnight.

This smells like a straw man argument to me.

The issue with fracking is not so much that it uses water, but that the fractures in the subsurface allow chemicals and even gasses from the gas field to get into the ground water. "Dry fracturing" may not help one bit with that.

This sounds more like PR from an energy company to justify expanding fracking...

The problem is that there is the little matter of climate change and the last thing the world needs is more CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere than is absolutely necessary.

I sometimes wonder if people have really yet to cotton on just how serious the situation is. It looks that way. Perhaps they think we can kick the can down the road. Unfortunately, we have tipping points to consider, such as is happening with methane escaping from clathrates and from melting perma-frost. If they reach a runaway state, then all we will be able to do is cling on while Old Mother Nature takes us for a wild ride.

No geologists in the crowd, eh? Mail me a penny postcard when you have scientific proof of fracking causing earthquakes or - for that matter - wholesale pollution.

Then, you might learn about strata differentiation between aquifers and other structures. How unlikely is cross-strata migration of pollutants.

Of the thousands of wells in the US produced by fracking less than a half-dozen have ever been implicated in pollution. That's a lot lower than the average dairy farm.

The last town in the US - that was being provided trucked-in water while their claims were investigated - just finished off that bit with the result determined to be several families that had lousy wells on their own. And the feds stopped trucking in water, last week - telling them to drill decent wells for household use.

Now, what little research I've done on Chimera doesn't inspire a whole boatload of confidence in them [or him] being capable of building this venture into a real company marketing a real service. NASDAQ says they have 1 employee - the CEO, Charles Grob. That's it.

Though I had planned on blogging this GIZMAG post = I think I'll hold off till there is at least a functioning pilot plant on the record.

in the USofA the EPA has found that in all the cases that it has investigated that fracking has not been responsible for any of the well contamination. The cause has always been improperly installed well casings at or near the aquifer not the several miles down where the fracking took place.

Fracking is largely unregulated

AND

there are over $50 Billion dollars in pending lawsuits(mostly regarding water and munincipalities)over fracking in the U.S.

There is also a major Hollywood film production regarding fracking that will be starring

Matt Damon that will be released soon,

SO....

you can expect this to become an increasingly significant issue-

wherever you stand on it.

No geologists or engineers at all at Chimera Energy it would seem... Mr Grob has qualifications in psychology and a track record in finance, private insurance and sales plan development.

His website demonstrates a range of PDC cutters but there is no way to place an order online. Hey where are ya Charlie?

Griffin: Unregulated activities give us the most technological advancements and highest standard of living. There is good reason for that. Gov't is a parasite pretending to be our protector.

Matt Damon does not research before supporting a position. Consequently he has been used to support PC, but wrong ideas.

Anyone can sue any company for any amount. Siting the $ amount does not discredit fracking.

The documentary "Gasland" has been shown to be a hit piece and unreliable.

let me guess... this is WAY more expensive and no one is ever going to use it?

Oh just one other thing... once you "frack" our little planet, you can't "unfrack" it.

Really a good technology. Being an environmentalist, to me the worst offense is to spoil water since it is the part of humans’ basic need. At the same time due to global warming earth’s atmosphere is getting changed, unstable & unpredictable every year. In such a situation invention of this kind of technology becomes essentials for the sake of humanity. I know a company which has its operations in Jack County and Texas, is doing the same great thing. Its led by Jason Halek who is a innovator in the field.

First, that article was a convoluted way of describing "using explosive techniques to replace hydraulic techniques" without using the "inflammatory word" Explosive.

Sort of like the way "wheelbase" company writers can no longer use that term to easily describe the "distance between the front and rear axles of an automobile..." LOL...

Next, the earthquakes "created" by fracking are actually the RELIEF of stress in the subterranean layers, which, if NOT released by fracking, would continue to build up unpredictably over time, resulting in a STRONGER earth tremor some time in the future. Fracking acts like a local safety valve or pressure release!

And, since there probably aren't any geologists commenting here, judging from the other comments.... chemical or gas leaks into aquifers come from lousy drilling or casings at VERY shallow depths. The shale layers are hundreds, if not thousands of feet deeper, and usually below other impermeable (look it up) layers of the earth.

Nobody takes basic Earth Science classes any more, do they? I learned these basics in the early 1960s....

I wonder if this dry extraction method resulted in Chimera Energy's recent fall in the stock market. As reported by Wall Street PR (http://wallstreetpr.com/?p=2150), Chimera Energy fell so drastically that is many people asking 'Why?'

I attended a public lecture on fracking. The lecturer was university staff and may or may not have had significant industry allegiances. The public objections to fracking do certainly seem to be of the "Our water is somewhere down there and your drilling is somewhere down there" variety with little or no further knowledge. There does not seem to be a prima facie case for condemning fracking so anything that works to ameliorate public perceptions has potential. Let's keep any objections more along the lines of the potential for vast amounts of accessible fuel to cause vast amounts of greenhouse gases and reduce the perceived need for alternative energy.