Hydraulic fracturing is the process of pumping water or oil-based fluids with a proppant at sufficient pressure to create a fracture in a hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir. The goal is to create a propped fracture or pathway that will increase the well productivity dealing with rock mechanics, fluid dynamics, chemistry and other complex issues in an effort to design a successful treatment.

lastUpdated: Thu, 17 May 2012 06:05:07 CDT

COAL IS POWER, Generating more than half of the electricity and about 22 percent of the energy produced in the United States. But it is also very dirty and destructive. Clean coal is the name attributed to coal chemically washed of minerals and impurities, sometimes gasified, burned and the resulting flue gases treated with steam, with the purpose of removing sulfur dioxide, and reburned so as to make the carbon dioxide in the flue gas economically recoverable.

lastUpdated: Wed, 16 May 2012 03:46:25 CDT

The price of petroleum as quoted in news generally refers to the spot price per barrel (159 liters) of either WTI/light crude as traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for delivery at Cushing, Oklahoma, or of Brent as traded on the Intercontinental Exchange (International Petroleum Exchange) for delivery.

lastUpdated: Tue, 15 May 2012 00:18:26 CDT

Deepwater Horizon was a fifth-generation, RBS-8D design, deepwater, dynamically positioned, column-stabilized,semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit.

lastUpdated: Mon, 14 May 2012 17:20:40 CDT

Currently, penalties are limited to a maximum of $35,000/day for each violation. Federal law caps liability for damages stemming from oil spills at $75 million. We need to ensure that there are sufficient financial incentives in place to deter oil companies from cutting corners.

lastUpdated: Fri, 11 May 2012 08:29:48 CDT

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, an energy crisis may develop because the availability of conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically.

lastUpdated: Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:15:17 CDT