What is hydraulic fracturing? Fracking is actually very simple: It’s taking a large amount of …show more content…
Oil companies continue to improve their drilling techniques this leads to bigger wells improved drilling and lower costs. Marathon, for example, now takes an average of 24 days to drill a well, down from 56 days in 2006 wells that weren't previously worth drilling are profitable decreasing prices to $50 a barrel, down from $80 a barrel according to analyst Mike Jacobs of investment firm Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. (Casselman) The price of natural gas has decreased from market highs of nearly $14/million BTU (British Thermal Unit) in 2008 to a low of $4.50/ Btu today. (Taglia) Production has increased by 50 percent for oil and 20 percent for gas over the last five years and this is just beginning a recent study conducted by a nonpartisan group the Center for a New American Security this could possibly help further national strategic interests.