How does hydraulic fracturing fracking and horizontal drilling make natural gas trapped in shale rock formations financially feasible and accessible . read more
The shale gas is the same as the natural gas we know and use. Its just extracted differently becuase its entrained in shale formations. The gas is locked in place in the solid shale, old technology was unable to get much gas from a single hole punched through a shale layer. read more
Shale Gas and Other Unconventional Sources of Natural Gas Unconventional natural gas, which includes shale gas, tight gas, coal bed methane, and methane hydrates, has been more difficult and costly to exploit than conventional deposits, until recently. read more
Way far underground (we're talking some 7,000 feet/2,133 meters below the surface), rocks like shale can hold gases, water or oil in their pores. Hydraulic fracking moves that resource from the pores of the rocks to production wells [source: ProPublica]. read more