I joined this forum to respond to this thread. The referenced economic expert is simply ignorant of what hydraulic fracturing is and why it is done. I will try to explain with facts. I have spent my entire adult life producing oil and gas in the gulf of mexico.
Oil and gas is trapped in rocks beneath a layer of some kind of impermeable layer of rock. It isn't in a cave or void in the ground. For oil and gas to be recoverable, the rock it is in must be permeable. It means that oil and gas can flow through the rock.
When a well is drilled into oil and gas bearing rock it must have a way for the hydrocarbons to move toward the well bore.
Fracking is simply making cracks in the rock to improve the flow toward the well bore. Fracking has been a routine part of well completions for 50 years.
The best new fields in the US that are currently being developed are in shale. Shale has very low permeability, without cracks in it almost no oil and gas will flow to the well bore. No oil means no money.
I work in deep water in the gulf. The cost of frack packing a well is a fraction of the total cost. But it enhances the flow rate and protects the wellbore from collapse.
If the referenced expert knew what he was talking about he would have said " Only a fool, would spend the money to drill an oil or gas well in tight rock like shale and not frack it."
This is a simplistic explanation and is true.
