Never mind that the oil and gas industry has been performing hydraulic fracturing for more than 50 years, we can only pray that Hollywood doesn’t seize on the fracturing flap to create another disaster epic. Maybe we can be thankful that Charlton Heston has departed for a better place, so he won’t be able to make the casting call for “Frac Attack!” the latest effort to eclipse such blockbuster productions as “Towering Inferno,” “Earthquake” and “The Omega Man.”

There is a real danger that those of us who have made a life’s career of the oil and gas industry will dismiss the hydraulic fracturing debate as much ado about nothing. Unfortunately, for millions of people, perception is reality, and whether we like to admit it or not, we who serve the biggest industry in the world have had a tendency to sit back smugly and shake our heads at the latest misconception. We have not done the best job at educating the public about our business, and as a result, the public is quick to assign blame for any perceived danger, whether environmental or financial, real or imagined.

The flames of misinformation have been fanned by a media that exists on ‘man bites dog’ sensationalism and sound bytes on the six-o’clock news. Even well-intentioned, but woefully naïve reporting creates the wrong impression in the minds of a public that skipped high-school physics class.

Recently, BP proudly announced its big deepwater discovery in Keathley Canyon. The reporter dutifully explained the relative importance of the discovery, even cautioning that full commercial production could not be expected for several years. Then, in an attempt to provide some scientific reason for the delay, stated that a major problem with the find was ‘low viscosity.’ Apparently, we never realized that low viscosity was a problem. Wait till the guys in Venezuela and Canada find out about this! Tar sands stock should triple overnight.

I’ve been around a long time — too long, you may be thinking. But I recall clearly some of the misinformation that fed the fires of public perception when the industry floated the ideas of natural gas storage wells. Never mind that without the ability to eliminate seasonal market cyclicity, northerners would be paying almost double for winter heating. Somehow, the idea that we could pump and store gas all summer and produce it from storage all winter was too technical to grasp.

Staying at a small hotel in Northern Pennsylvania, not far from the site of the Drake well, I was explaining to a group of citizens how the gas storage business benefited them. One frowning fellow shook his head and said, “Well, I think it’s too dangerous.”

He then proceeded to tell a tale that would have been hilarious, had his colleagues not nodded sagely as he related the dire consequences of gas storage. This is what he said.

Allegedly, a local farmer had some old abandoned shallow oil wells on his property — so old in fact that they were “cased” with hollowed-out logs driven into the ground end-to-end. Obviously, the purpose of the ‘casing’ was simply to support the borehole walls, not provide hydraulic isolation. Anyway the enterprising farmer installed his outhouse on top of one of the wells — the idea being that he’d never have to dig another latrine, because the well descended more than 70-ft. He figured he and his wife would be dead long before they filled up that well.

You get the picture.
The story-teller warned us all that as soon as that gas company pressured up on their storage field, they’d blow poor old farmer Brown right off the throne.
I roared with laughter, only to discover that I was the only one laughing. The rest of the head scratchers were digesting the dire possibilities implied by the story. Maybe they had been thinking about going back to their places and looking for an abandoned well too, until they heard about the potential for disaster. Now that hydraulic fracturing has come to the Marcellus play, I wonder what these guys are thinking about that?
Careful what you say. There are folks out there that think the sky is falling!