Spatial and Statistical Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing Activities in US Shale Plays and the Effectiveness of the FracFocus Chemical Disclosure System

Abstract

Abstract The FracFocus chemical disclosure registry provides public disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemical additives used in more than 55,000 wells by over 600 companies in the United States. The large number of well sites that have been entered into the registry present a rich population of hydraulic fracturing jobs over a wide geographic area and spanning a period of almost three years. As FracFocus evolved, the authors conducted an internal project to compile the disclosures into a database format more suited to analysis. This has entailed considerable resources to capture the PDFs available, assess the quality of the data in FracFocus, detect and correct data errors and inconsistencies, and convert PDF submittals to a database format. The resulting database can be used to analyze a number of research questions about hydraulic fracturing and related environmental concerns and public disclosure issues. This paper will demonstrate the effectiveness of the FracFocus database in investigating a variety of questions concerning hydraulic fracturing, including: water use trends across plays, among plays, among companies, and over time; chemical makeup of fracturing jobs, again within and between plays, and among companies; geographic distributions of disclosures (where are submissions being made?); company distributions of disclosures (who is making them?); how the volume of fluids and the number and type of fracture fluid additives vary by company, by region and play, and even within plays. The analysis of the data from FracFocus can help bring a scientific, data-driven approach to addressing many of the concerns expressed by the public, non-profit organizations, and regulatory agencies regarding hydraulic fracturing.