Weir Pumps at Cuadrilla Resources drilling equipment at Shale Gas Drill Site, Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
Europe is still in the early phases of horizontally drilling and fracturing wells to extract shale gas, however the process of hydraulic fracturing has been used in Europe for decades as an industrial process to stimulate conventional oil and gas wells, water wells and geothermal wells. In Germany, more than 300 conventional wells have been stimulated using this technique. Around 200 onshore oil and gas wells in the UK have been stimulated by hydraulic fracturing. In the United States, hydraulic fracturing was combined with horizontal drilling during the 1980s and 1990s and enabled natural gas trapped in shale rock to be commercially extracted. This has led the US to become the leading oil and gas producer in the world, where horizontal wells have rapidly outstripped the use of vertical wells.
Size: 3456px × 5184px
Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, UK
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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