Environmentally friendly hydraulic fracturing and water-free fracturing technologies

Hydraulic fracturing is an efficient stimulation technology widely employed in the petroleum industry to increase the productivity of oil and gas reservoirs, especially for unconventional reservoirs. A close look at the mechanisms and procedures of hydraulic fracturing is taken in this paper, and the major issues of water utilisation are investigated including sourcing, disposal, and resource conservation. Meanwhile, public concerns and legislative and regulatory issues associated with the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing are discussed. In addition, recent technical advances in hydraulic fracturing that aid to mitigate fresh water consumption and related environmental concerns are presented. Moreover, a few existing water-free fracturing technologies that avoid water consumption are reviewed and analysed. By improving the fracturing fluid management performance under the guidance of current regulations, e.g., fluid recycling and waste fluid treatment, hydraulic fracturing technologies for oil and gas reservoir development are becoming more and more environmentally friendly.