FAQs and Agency Links

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What is the Barnett Shale?
The Barnett Shale is a large natural gas reserve encompassing more than 5,000 square miles and including portions of at least 18 counties in North Texas. Many experts believe the Barnett Shale may be the largest onshore natural gas field in the United States, estimated to contain more than 26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In recent years, advances in drilling technology have made it possible for energy companies to extract large amounts of natural gas from the Barnett Shale. For more information on the Barnett Shale, visit the Railroad Commission of Texas website by clicking this link: http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/oil-gas/major-oil-gas-formations/barnett-shale-information/. 

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What is natural gas?
Natural gas is made up of just two elements – carbon and hydrogen. It is part of a family of chemicals known as hydrocarbons, which also includes oil and gasoline. As its name suggests, natural gas comes out of the ground as a gas; oil, gasoline, and other hydrocarbons are recovered mixed together in a liquid called crude oil.

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How is natural gas formed?
All of the natural gas we use today began as microscopic plants and animals living in the ocean millions of years ago. As these microscopic plants and animals lived, they absorbed energy from the sun, which was stored as carbon molecules in their bodies. When they died, they sank to the bottom of the sea. Over millions of years, layer after layer of sediment and other plants and bacteria were formed. As they became buried ever deeper, heat and pressure began to rise. The amount of pressure and the degree of heat, along with the type of biomass, determined if the material became oil or natural gas. Very high heat or biomass made predominantly of plant material produced natural gas. After oil and natural gas were formed, they tended to migrate through tiny pores in the surrounding rock. Some oil and natural gas migrated all the way to the surface and escaped. Other oil and natural gas deposits migrated until they were caught under impermeable layers of rock or clay, where they were trapped. These trapped deposits are where we find oil and natural gas today

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How is natural gas used?
Natural gas meets 24 percent of U.S. energy demand and now heats 51 percent of U.S. households. It also cools many homes and provides fuel for cooking. Many companies and municipalities are also deploying fleets of natural gas-powered cars, trucks and buses to reduce emissions. There are over 120,000 natural gas vehicles operating on American roads.

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How long is the gas well active or producing?
Current estimations project that some wells may produce for 20-30 years, depending on the quality of formation. The production capability of older wells may reduce this lifespan and new technology may help to increase the duration of production for newer wells.

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How is natural gas transported?
Natural gas is transported via buried gas lines located in and around the Metroplex. Most of these lines have been in existence for 30 years. These lines are inspected, are pressure tested on an annual basis, and are buried below the ground level a federally mandated minimum of 3 feet. These lines are all clearly marked with pipe markers that are normally bright yellow markings with the company name and emergency phone numbers. For more information regarding federal pipeline regulations, visist the U.S. Government Printing Office to view Title 49, Subtitle B, Chapter I, Subchapter D--Pipeline Safety by clicking on this link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2010-title49-vol3/xml/CFR-2010-title49-vol3-subtitleB-chapI-subchapD.xml

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What is fracturing or completing with hydraulic horsepower?
Fracturing is a means of opening the Barnett Shale formation up by the use of hydraulic horse power and fresh water. The fresh water stored in frac pits is typically pumped in stages into the Barnett Shale formation. Once the fracture (opening of rock) has been created by this force then sand is mixed with the fresh water and other ingredients and pumped into these fractures to help prevent the fracture from closing back once the hydraulic force is reduced. By packing or filling of these fractures with sand, this will allow the natural formation to produce into the new drilled well bore (hole) and bring gas to surface.

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What is a wellhead or Christmas tree?
A term applied to the valves and fittings assembled at the top of a well to control the flow of the oil and gas.

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What is a tank battery?
It is normally a single or double steel or fiberglass tank that can hold fluids of 200-400 barrels. There is also normally a gas separator inside the battery which allows the water or oil to separate from the gas. It provides some retention time that allows the gas to break out of the oil or water and then move into the gas sales system or pipeline.

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What is a Blow Out?
A sudden, violent escape of gas and oil (and sometimes water) from a drilling well when high pressure gas is encountered and efforts to prevent or to control the escape has not been successful.

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What is a Blow Out Preventer (BOP)?
A device attached immediately above the casing to control the pressure and prevent escape of fluids from the annular space between the drill pipe and casing or shut off the hole if no drill pipe is in the hole, should a kick or blowout occur. These devices are pressure tested between 3,500 – 5,000psi when installed and every two weeks afterwards. They also have remote control valves to operate from a safe distance if needed.