Challenges and Opportunities of Shale Gas Extraction via Hydraulic Fracturing

of the rock itself.Shale gas is an unconventional form of natural gas in the sense that it is trapped within the pores of shale rock instead of simply being contained in an underground cavity.Natural gas is composed of methane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide.This method is presently highly debated; some environmentalists claim that it is not possible to execute this process without significant and irreparable damage to surrounding ecology.On the other side of the issue, many for-profit corporations cite that it is not legal to prevent them from fracking and that the environmentalists' claims are unproven.More than that, these companies also indicate that it is not feasible on a fundamental level to stop hydrofracking since many Americans rely on it to provide energy for their day-to-day lives.As the global energy needs increase greatly, it is very important to quantify the risks, potential losses, and prospective gains associated with the hydrofracking process.The strong public attention and impact from this issue, coupled with the wide variety of professionals required to work together and form a coherent opinion on the matter -corporate executives, lawyers, insurance companies, governmental regulating bodies, politicians, engineers, etc. -makes the evaluation process complex.Therefore, it is imperative to thoroughly expose the infrastructure that must be developed to sustain this process (section 1), a more detailed description of what hydrofracking is, the various chemical constituents it utilizes, and how it is executed, and its technological advances (section 2), environmental impacts and their mitigation (section 3), the relevant governmental regulatory agencies, as well as their evaluation criteria (section 4), and economics of hydrofracking and trends in demand, costs and market prices (section 5).