Hydraulic fracturing

Patent Pending Hydraulic fracturing is the fracturing of rock by a pressurized liquid. Some hydraulic fractures form naturally—certain veins or dikes are examples. Induced hydraulic fracturing (also hydrofracturing, fracking, and fraccing) is a well-stimulation technique in which a high-pressure fluid (usually water mixed with sand and chemicals) is injected into a wellbore in order to create small fractures (usually less than 1.0 mm wide) in the deep-rock formations in order to allow natural gas, petroleum, and brine to migrate to the well. When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the well, small grains of hydraulic fracturing proppants (either sand or aluminium oxide) hold open the small fractures once the deep rock achieves geologic equilibrium.