Propane butane gas fracs may appease opposition to hydraulic fracturing but only if the dangers are kept from the public

Fracking Advance That Cuts Water Use May Appease Some Opposition To Controversial Practice by David Kashi, September 30 2013, International Business Times
In the latest development of the technology, fracking drills would use use propane, butane or pentane, or a mixture of those gases…. One company, GASFRAC Energy Services, Inc. (TSE:GFS), based in Calgary, Canada, claims that the advantage this latest advance in fracking technology provides is that water is not needed for fracking, and the technology is safer for workers than traditional fracking methods. The process also removes the need to clean the fracking site, the company claims, and it’s more environmentally friendly than using water, because water used in fracking returns to the surface and requires transportation off-site for treatment before it can be disposed of. Higher costs, along with some other drawbacks, are holding back the broad adoption of the new technology. Still, Gasfrac has signed contracts with several energy companies. One example is a Texas-based energy company Quicksilver Resources, which teamed up with Gasfrac to use the new technology to frack an oil well in Steamboat Springs, Colo.  [Emphasis added]

Waterless Fracking Makes Headway in Texas, Slowly Tudor said that his company had done 2,000 or more fracks by now, with only one “minor incident in Canada” in which a worker got blisters while some equipment was being shut off. [Emphasis added]

[Refer also to:

Above slide from Slide from Ernst Presentation UK / Ireland 2013 Frac Speaking Tour

Oil workers suffer burns in blast by Canada’s Occupational Health and Safety Magazine, March 2011. Three GASFRAC Energy Services Inc. employees were transported to an Alberta hospital with burn injuries following an explosion and fire on January 14 [2011]. At about 5:30 pm, the employees of the Calgary company were performing gas fracturing

Husky well fire injures several Alberta workers About a dozen workers were injured after a “flash fire” burst out from an Alberta natural gas well owned by Husky Energy Inc. RCMP reported that 12 workers were hurt…. No deaths have been reported, although three people were sent to an Edmonton burn unit. … Bob Curran, a spokesman with the Energy Resources Conservation Board, said the fire burst out as workers were setting up to begin the underground fraccing. Mr. Curran said the well was to be fractured using propane, a technique that has already injured three other workers this year. In January, Gasfrac Energy Services Inc. said a propane leak at one of its work sites created a “short fire.”

Hydraulic fracturing with gelled propane by Gasfrac/Crew Energy Inc./Caltex Energy Inc. contaminated groundwater near Grande Prairie: ERCB Investigative Report and groundwater monitoring by Alberta Environment

Stock slides as GasFrac parts ways with top managers, Waterless well stimulation company promises to repair financial woes

Waterless Fracking Moves Into California Market, With Its Own Set Of Safety Issues, Dry-fracking is expected to make its way to California communities soon if the oil industry has its way ]

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