Fear of losing access to resources spurs firms to action
By Braden Reddall, Reuters
John Pinkerton, who runs shale gas producer Range Resources Corp., has no time for fracking secrecy, and his notoriously tight-lipped industry is opening up a bit for fear of a regulatory crackdown.
Much of the public concern surrounding hydraulic fracturing stemmed from the scanty disclosure of the chemicals in the frac fluid that makes it all work. Oilfield services companies cite proprietary reasons for holding back their recipes.
"That whole competitive thing is the biggest bunch of bunk I ever heard, and I think the services companies ought to be ashamed of themselves," Range's chief executive told investors this month. "It has nothing to do with competitiveness."
He said everyone who does frac jobs - blasting sand and chemical-laced water into wells drilled in shale rock to release oil and gas - essentially uses the same ingredients.
"This is not some secret sauce that nobody knows about," Pinkerton said in comments webcast from the Barclays Capital CEO Energy Power Conference in New York. "There are very few secrets in this business."
His blunt view clashed with the lighthearted conclusion to a presentation by the two top executives of frac specialist Halliburton Co just a few hours earlier: The pair took sips of a fracking fluid made of materials from the food industry.
Halliburton said that in response to public interest, it had launched its own website disclosing chemicals used in fracking in different parts of the country.
Exploration and production companies now disclose the chemicals used on frac jobs - except those deemed "trade secrets" - at http: //fracfocus.org.
"There's an actual fear that they're going to get shut out of areas, not just get regulated," he said. "Fear is a great mobilizer. For the first time in at least a decade, there's some actual fear on the part of industry that they may lose out on some things."
Much of the public concern surrounding hydraulic fracturing stemmed from the scanty disclosure of the chemicals in the frac fluid that makes it all work. Oilfield services companies cite proprietary reasons for holding back their recipes.
"That whole competitive thing is the biggest bunch of bunk I ever heard, and I think the services companies ought to be ashamed of themselves," Range's chief executive told investors this month. "It has nothing to do with competitiveness."
He said everyone who does frac jobs - blasting sand and chemical-laced water into wells drilled in shale rock to release oil and gas - essentially uses the same ingredients.
"This is not some secret sauce that nobody knows about," Pinkerton said in comments webcast from the Barclays Capital CEO Energy Power Conference in New York. "There are very few secrets in this business."
His blunt view clashed with the lighthearted conclusion to a presentation by the two top executives of frac specialist Halliburton Co just a few hours earlier: The pair took sips of a fracking fluid made of materials from the food industry.
Halliburton said that in response to public interest, it had launched its own website disclosing chemicals used in fracking in different parts of the country.
Exploration and production companies now disclose the chemicals used on frac jobs - except those deemed "trade secrets" - at http: //fracfocus.org.
"There's an actual fear that they're going to get shut out of areas, not just get regulated," he said. "Fear is a great mobilizer. For the first time in at least a decade, there's some actual fear on the part of industry that they may lose out on some things."
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