EPA/601/R-14/003 l March 2015 l www.epa.gov/hfstudy 

Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid 

Data from the FracFocus Chemical 

Disclosure Registry 1.0 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

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[This page intentionally left blank.] 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

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Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Data

from the FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry 1.0

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Research and Development

Washington, DC

March 2015

EPA/601/R-14/003
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

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Disclaimer

This document has been reviewed in accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency policy

and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products

does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

Preferred Citation: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2015. Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid 

Data from the FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry 1.0. Office of Research and Development, 

Washington, DC. EPA/601/R-14/003. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

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Table of Contents

Disclaimer..................................................................................................................................................... iv

Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................................... v

List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... vii

List of Figures............................................................................................................................................... ix

Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... x

Authors and Contributors............................................................................................................................ xi

Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................................... xi

List of Acronyms.......................................................................................................................................... xii

Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................................1

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................6

Objective .......................................................................................................................................6

Background ...................................................................................................................................6

2. Methodology for Data Extraction and Analysis .......................................................................................8

Database Development.................................................................................................................8

2.1.1. Source Data...........................................................................................................................8

2.1.2. Data Conversion and Extraction............................................................................................9

2.1.3. Parsing Success ...................................................................................................................10

Data Standardization and Quality Assurance .............................................................................12

2.2.1. Quality Assurance of Locational Data .................................................................................13

2.2.2. Addition of Geologic Information .......................................................................................14

2.2.3. Quality Assurance of Ingredients........................................................................................15

Analyses ......................................................................................................................................19

2.3.1. Specific Criteria for Analyses...............................................................................................19

2.3.2. Calculations.........................................................................................................................25

3. Results....................................................................................................................................................27

Additive Ingredients....................................................................................................................32

3.1.1. Reported Frequency and Fluid Concentrations of Additive Ingredients ............................33

3.1.2. Additive Purposes ...............................................................................................................39

3.1.3. Comparing Variability of Additive Ingredients in Selected Counties..................................39

Base Fluids...................................................................................................................................42

3.2.1. Use of Non-Aqueous Fluids in Base Fluids..........................................................................43

3.2.2. Cumulative Total Water Volumes.......................................................................................46
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

vi

3.2.3. Total Water Volumes per Disclosure ..................................................................................49

3.2.4. Comparing Variability of Total Water Volumes in Selected Counties ................................51

3.2.5. Water Sources.....................................................................................................................54

Proppants....................................................................................................................................60

4. Conclusions............................................................................................................................................62

References ..................................................................................................................................................67

Glossary.......................................................................................................................................................71

Appendix A. Shale Basin Map ..................................................................................................................... 76

Appendix B. Chemical Families for Ingredients Listed as Confidential Business Information.................... 77

Appendix C. Histograms of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Concentrations for Most Frequently Reported 

Additive Ingredients.................................................................................................................................... 92

Appendix D. List of Operators................................................................................................................... 112

Appendix E. Reporting Regulations for States with Data in the Project Database................................... 129

Appendix F. Additive Purposes................................................................................................................. 132

Appendix G. Most Frequently Reported Additive Ingredients for Five Selected Counties ...................... 134

Appendix H. Total Water Volumes by County .......................................................................................... 142
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

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List of Tables

Table ES-1. State-specific information on the number of unique disclosures with a fracture date 

between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; total water volumes reported per 

disclosure; and the number of unique additive ingredients reported per disclosure........... 3

Table ES-2. Most frequently reported additive ingredients in disclosures associated with oil wells 

and in disclosures associated with gas wells ......................................................................... 4

Table 1. Number of parsed, partially parsed, and unparsed disclosures, summarized by state....... 11

Table 2. Number and percentage of disclosures that had data successfully parsed from the 

well header and ingredients tables and that met the primary QA criteria ......................... 13

Table 3. Examples of ingredient name standardization .................................................................... 16

Table 4. Additive ingredients reported as confidential business information (CBI), summarized 

by state................................................................................................................................. 18

Table 5. Filters, QA criteria, disclosures, and ingredient records associated with analyses 

presented in this report....................................................................................................... 21

Table 6. Number and percentage of unique disclosures in the project database with a fracture 

date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013....................................................... 29

Table 7. Number of unique additive ingredients per disclosure, summarized by state.................... 34

Table 8. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in oil disclosures, ranked by

frequency of occurrence ...................................................................................................... 35

Table 9. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in gas disclosures, ranked by 

frequency of occurrence ...................................................................................................... 36

Table 10. Frequently reported additive ingredients and commonly listed purposes for additives 

that contain the ingredients ................................................................................................ 40

Table 11. Counties selected to illustrate diversity in additive ingredients at small scales.................. 41

Table 12. Comparison of 20 most frequently reported additive ingredients among selected 

counties................................................................................................................................ 42

Table 13. Non-aqueous ingredients reported in base fluids............................................................... 44

Table 14. Use of non-aqueous ingredients in base fluids, summarized by state ................................ 45

Table 15. Total water volumes, summarized by state......................................................................... 48

Table 16. Total water volumes for selected counties in approximately the 90th percentile of 

disclosures............................................................................................................................ 53

Table 17. Number of disclosures having terms suggestive of water sources, summarized 

by state................................................................................................................................. 55

Table 18. Median maximum fluid concentrations of water by source, summarized by state ............ 58
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

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Table 19. Ten most frequently reported proppant ingredients, ranked by frequency 

of occurrence ....................................................................................................................... 61

Table B-1. Chemical families for CBI ingredient records....................................................................... 78

Table B-2. Most frequently reported chemical families among CBI ingredients and their most 

commonly listed purposes................................................................................................... 91

Table D-1. Disclosures per state, summarized by well operator......................................................... 112

Table E-1. Reporting regulations for states with data in the project database.................................. 129

Table F-1. Number of disclosures, summarized by additive purpose categories............................... 132

Table G-1. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in Andrews County, Texas, 

ranked by frequency of occurrence ................................................................................... 134

Table G-2. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in Bradford County, 

Pennsylvania, ranked by frequency of occurrence ............................................................ 135

Table G-3. Twenty-one most frequently reported additive ingredients in Dunn County, North 

Dakota, ranked by frequency of occurrence...................................................................... 136

Table G-4. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in Garfield County, Colorado, 

ranked by frequency of occurrence ................................................................................... 138

Table G-5. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in Kern County, California, 

ranked by frequency of occurrence ................................................................................... 140

Table H-1. Total water volumes, summarized by county.................................................................... 142
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Example FracFocus 1.0 disclosure.......................................................................................... 9

Figure 2. Geographic distribution of disclosures in the project database.......................................... 27

Figure 3. Geographic distribution of disclosures by production type................................................. 30

Figure 4. Distribution of fracture dates in the project database ........................................................ 31

Figure 5. Cumulative total water volumes, summarized by county ................................................... 47

Figure 6. Median total water volumes per disclosure, summarized by county.................................. 50

Figure 7. Variability in reported total water volumes per disclosure, as measured by the 

difference between the 5th and 95th percentiles............................................................... 51

Figure A-1. Shale basins map.................................................................................................................. 76
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

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Preface

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting a Study of the Potential Impacts of 

Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources. The study is based upon an extensive 

review of the literature; results from EPA research projects; and technical input from state, industry, and 

non-governmental organizations, as well as the public and other stakeholders. A series of technical 

roundtables and in-depth technical workshops were held to help address specific research questions 

and to inform the work of the study. 

In Fiscal Year 2010, Congress urged the EPA to examine the relationship between hydraulic fracturing 

and drinking water resources in the United States. The EPA’s Plan to Study the Potential Impacts of 

Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources was reviewed by the agency’s Science Advisory Board 

(SAB) and issued in 2011. The Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water 

Resources: Progress Report, detailing the EPA’s research approaches and next steps, was released in late 

2012 and followed by a consultation with individual experts convened under the auspices of the SAB. 

This report, Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Data from the FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry 

1.0, is the product of one of the research projects conducted as part of the EPA’s study. It has 

undergone independent, external peer review, which was conducted through the Eastern Research 

Group, Inc. All peer review comments were considered in the report’s development. The report has also 

been reviewed in accordance with agency policy and approved for publication.

The EPA is writing a state-of-the-science assessment that integrates a broad review of existing literature, 

results from peer-reviewed EPA research products (including this report), and information gathered 

through stakeholder engagement efforts to answer the fundamental research questions posed for each 

stage of the hydraulic fracturing water cycle:

 Water Acquisition: What are the possible impacts of large volume water withdrawals from 

ground and surface waters on drinking water resources?

 Chemical Mixing: What are the possible impacts of surface spills on or near well pads of 

hydraulic fracturing fluids on drinking water resources?

 Well Injection: What are the possible impacts of the injection and fracturing process on drinking 

water resources?

 Flowback and Produced Water: What are the possible impacts of surface spills on or near well 

pads of flowback and produced water on drinking water resources?

 Wastewater Treatment and Waste Disposal: What are the possible impacts of inadequate 

treatment of hydraulic fracturing wastewaters on drinking water resources?

The state-of-the-science assessment is not a human health or an exposure assessment, nor is it designed 

to evaluate policy options or best management practices. As a Highly Influential Scientific Assessment, 

the draft assessment report will undergo public comment and a meaningful and timely peer review by 

the SAB to ensure all information is high quality.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

xi

Authors and Contributors

Susan Burden, US EPA

Jill Dean, US EPA

Jonathan Koplos, The Cadmus Group, Inc., under contract EP-C-08-015

Claudia Meza-Cuadra, Student Services Contractor for the US EPA under contract EP-13-H-000054

Alison Singer, Student Services Contractor for the US EPA under contract EP-13-H-000474

Mary Ellen Tuccillo, The Cadmus Group, Inc., under contract EP-C-08-015

Acknowledgements

The EPA would like to acknowledge the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas 

Compact Commission for providing data and information for this report. Assistance was provided by The 

Cadmus Group, Inc., under contract EP-C-08-015. The contractors’ role did not include establishing 

agency policy.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

xii

List of Acronyms

API American Petroleum Institute

CASRN Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number

CBI Confidential Business Information

CSV Comma-Separated Values 

EPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

GIS Geographic Information System

GWPC Ground Water Protection Council

IOGCC Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission

MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet

PDF Portable Document Format

QA Quality Assurance

SEAB Secretary of Energy Advisory Board

TVD True Vertical Depth

XML Extensible Markup Language
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

1

Executive Summary

Hydraulic fracturing has enabled oil and gas production to expand into areas of the United States 

where production was once considered impractical. As production has increased, so have public 

concerns about hydraulic fracturing and its potential effects on drinking water and the 

environment. In response to public interest in the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids, the 

Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission 

(IOGCC) developed the FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry (subsequently referred to as 

“FracFocus”). FracFocus is a publicly accessible website (www.fracfocus.org) where oil and gas 

production well operators can disclose information about the ingredients used in hydraulic 

fracturing fluids at individual wells. Although FracFocus was designed for local users, it provides an 

opportunity to study the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids nationwide.

This report analyzes data from more than 39,000 FracFocus disclosures provided to the U.S. 

Environmental Agency (EPA) by the GWPC in March 2013. Each disclosure contained data for an 

individual oil and gas production well. Data on the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids were 

extracted from the disclosures and summarized to address the following research questions from 

the EPA’s Plan the Study the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources: 

 What are the identities and quantities of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids, and 

how might this composition vary at a given site and across the country?

 How much water is used in hydraulic fracturing operations, and what are the sources of 

this water?

Data from this study will supplement information obtained from the published literature and other 

sources being considered by the EPA in the preparation of the agency’s assessment of the potential 

impacts of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas on drinking water resources. 

Disclosures analyzed for this report were submitted to FracFocus by well operators using the 

FracFocus 1.0 format.1 Data in the disclosures were extracted from individual portable document 

format (PDF) files and compiled in a project database.2Information on fracture date, operator, well 

identification and location, production type, true vertical depth, and the total water volume used for 

hydraulic fracturing were successfully extracted from 38,530 disclosures. Hydraulic fracturing fluid 

composition data were extracted for 37,017 disclosures. Hydraulic fracturing fluid composition 

data included trade names of additives, the purpose associated with each additive, and the identity 

[i.e., chemical name and Chemical Abstracts Services Registry Number (CASRN)] and maximum 

concentration of each ingredient in an additive and in the overall hydraulic fracturing fluid. The 

content of the project database was influenced by the data conversion process (i.e., extracting data 

 

1 FracFocus 2.0 became the exclusive disclosure mechanism in June 2013, which is past the timeframe of this study 

(January 2011 to February 2013). More information on the FracFocus 1.0 and FracFocus 2.0 formats may be found in the 

FracFocus 2.0 Operator Training materials available at http://fracfocus.org/node/331. In early 2015, the GWPC and the 

IOGCC announced new features for FracFocus 3.0. More information on FracFocus 3.0 is available at 

http://www.fracfocus.org/major-improvements-fracfocus-announced. 

2 The project database and the accompanying Data Management and Quality Assessment Report are available at 

http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/published-scientific-papers. The Data Management and Quality Assessment Report

describes the structure of the database, data fields, and quality assessment of the data.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

2

from PDFs into the project database) as well as the completeness and accuracy of data in the 

original PDF disclosures. Reviews of data quality were conducted on the project database prior to 

data analysis to ensure that the results of the analyses reflected the data contained in the PDF

disclosures, while identifying obviously invalid or incorrect data to exclude from analyses.

Analyses were conducted on unique (i.e., non-duplicate) disclosures with a fracture date between 

January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013, that met appropriate quality assurance criteria for a given 

analysis. The disclosures identified well locations in 406 counties in 20 states and were reported by 

428 well operators. True vertical depths ranged from approximately 2,900 feet to nearly 13,000 

feet (5th to 95th percentile), with a median of just over 8,100 feet. Generally, well locations 

represented by the disclosures were clustered in the northeast (mainly in and around 

Pennsylvania), the west central portion of the country (from North Dakota and Wyoming through 

Texas and Louisiana), and in California. Summary statistics performed on the entire dataset reflect 

a greater contribution of data from states that are better represented in the project database than 

others—partly due to the locations of oil- and gas-bearing reservoirs, different state reporting 

requirements,3 and the success in extracting data from individual PDF disclosures. 

State-specific data on the number of unique disclosures with a fracture date in the study time 

period and summary statistics on total water volumes and additive ingredients per disclosure are 

reported in Table ES-1. Ingredients reported in the disclosures were generally categorized in 

analyses as either additive ingredients, base fluids, or proppants depending upon entries in the 

trade name, purpose, and comments fields as well as the reported maximum ingredient 

concentration in the hydraulic fracturing fluid. Additive ingredients included ingredients reported 

for trade names (i.e., additives) that had purposes other than base fluid or proppant. The project 

database contains 692 unique ingredients reported for additives, base fluids, and proppants.

Operators designated 11% of all ingredient records as confidential business information. One or 

more ingredients were claimed confidential in more than 70% of disclosures. 

As shown in Table ES-1, the median number of additive ingredients per disclosure for the entire 

dataset was 14, with a range of 4 to 28 (5th to 95th percentile). The most commonly reported 

additive ingredients were methanol, hydrochloric acid, and hydrotreated light petroleum distillates 

(reported in 71%, 65%, and 65% of disclosures, respectively). Table ES-2 shows the occurrence and 

median value of reported maximum concentrations in hydraulic fracturing fluid4for the most 

frequently reported additive ingredients in disclosures associated with oil wells and in disclosures 

associated with gas wells. Among the entire data set, the sum of the maximum hydraulic fracturing 

fluid concentration for all additive ingredients reported in a disclosure was less than 1% by mass in 

approximately 80% of disclosures, and the median maximum hydraulic fracturing fluid 

concentration was 0.43% by mass. Among proppants, quartz was the most common material 

 

3 During the period of time studied in this report, six of the 20 states with data in the project database began requiring 

operators to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids to FracFocus, three states started requiring disclosure

to either FracFocus or the state, and five states required or began requiring disclosure to the state.

4 Well operators reported the maximum concentration of an ingredient in the additive and in the hydraulic fracturing 

fluid. Therefore, the median concentration values presented in this report represent the median value of the reported 

maximum concentrations or the “median maximum concentration.” 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

3

reported (present in at least 98% of disclosures that identified proppants), with a median 

maximum hydraulic fracturing fluid concentration of 10% by mass.

Base fluids described in the disclosures included water, water with non-aqueous constituents (i.e., 

gases or hydrocarbons), and hydrocarbons only. More than 93% of the disclosures analyzed in the 

study are inferred to use water as a base fluid,5 with a median maximum concentration of 88% by 

mass in hydraulic fracturing fluids. As shown in Table ES-1, the median total water volume per 

 

5 The determination of water used as a base fluid was based on disclosures that included at least one water ingredient 

with a maximum fluid concentration greater than or equal to 1% by mass. The 1% cutoff was chosen after considering the 

median and 95th percentiles of maximum hydraulic fracturing fluid concentrations of frequently reported additive 

ingredients as well as the median maximum hydraulic fracturing fluid concentration of all ingredients per disclosure.

Table ES-1. State-specific information on the number of unique disclosures with a fracture date between January 

1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; total water volumes reported per disclosure; and the number of unique additive 

ingredients reported per disclosure.

State Number of 

disclosures*

Total water volume per disclosure

(gallons)†

Number of additive ingredients 

per disclosure§

Median 5th

percentile

95th

percentile Median 5thpercentile

95th 

percentile

Alabama 55 37,691 23,602 51,651 10 10 10

Alaska 37 88,448 36,437 435,638 15 13 16

Arkansas 1,450 5,277,890 2,681,465 7,484,091 10 6 21

California 718 77,154 18,684 356,453 19 10 23

Colorado 4,938 463,659 103,906 4,327,068 13 5 23

Kansas 136 1,421,591 9,866 2,448,300 14 8 17

Louisiana 1,038 5,148,696 277,540 8,942,170 15 1 29

Michigan 15 33,306 15,722 15,127,125 19 10 29

Mississippi 4 9,173,624 4,322,108 12,701,054 14 11 23

Montana 213 1,469,839 216,578 3,197,594 16 9 38

New Mexico 1,162 172,452 22,130 2,851,323 21 7 31

North Dakota 2,254 2,019,513 557,740 3,685,402 15 4 33

Ohio 148 3,887,499 2,526,398 7,442,826 17 8 38

Oklahoma 1,909 2,578,947 114,870 8,288,041 12 5 30

Pennsylvania 2,483 4,184,936 1,092,739 7,475,493 10 4 18

Texas 18,075 1,413,287 26,006 7,407,116 15 4 30

Utah 1,429 303,424 35,070 1,056,654 17 7 23

Virginia 90 33,474 13,322 96,684 9 7 12

West Virginia 277 5,012,238 2,500,529 7,889,759 12 7 22

Wyoming 1,457 306,246 5,503 3,110,272 10 5 24

State Uncertain‡ 162 2,770,090 80,067 6,945,958 15 5 27

Entire Dataset 38,050 1,508,724 29,526 7,196,702 14 4 28

* See Table 6 for notes on quality assurance criteria.

† See Table 15 for notes on quality assurance criteria.

§ See Table 7 for notes on quality assurance criteria.

‡ State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria (Section 2.2.1).
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

4

disclosure was approximately 1.5 million gallons, with a range of nearly 30,000 gallons to 

approximately 7.2 million gallons (5th to 95th percentile). Non-aqueous constituents (i.e., nitrogen, 

carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons) were reported as base fluids or in combination with water as a

base fluid in fewer than 3% of disclosures. Twenty-nine percent of disclosures in the project 

database included information related to water sources. Some of these terms indicated a condition 

of water quality, such as “fresh,” rather than a specific identification of the source of the water (e.g., 

ground water, surface water). The most commonly reported source of water used for base fluid was 

“fresh” (68% of disclosures with water source information). 

Table ES-2. Most frequently reported additive ingredients in disclosures associated with oil wells and in disclosures 

associated with gas wells.

Oil Production Type Gas Production Type

EPAstandardized 

chemical name*

Number (%)

of disclosures

Median 

concentration 

in hydraulic 

fracturing fluid

(% by mass)

EPAstandardized 

chemical name*

Number (%)

of disclosures

Median 

concentration 

in hydraulic 

fracturing fluid 

(% by mass) 

Methanol 12,484 (72%) 0.022 Hydrochloric 

acid 12,351 (73%) 0.078

Distillates, 

petroleum, 

hydrotreated 

light†

10,566 (61%) 0.087 Methanol 12,269 (72%) 0.0020

Peroxydisulfuric 

acid, 

diammonium 

salt

10,350 (60%) 0.0076

Distillates, 

petroleum, 

hydrotreated 

light†

11,897 (70%) 0.017

Ethylene glycol 10,307 (59%) 0.023 Isopropanol 8,008 (47%) 0.0016

Hydrochloric 

acid 10,029 (58%) 0.29 Water† 7,998 (47%) 0.18

Guar gum 9,110 (52%) 0.17 Ethanol† 6,325 (37%) 0.0023

Sodium 

hydroxide 8,609 (50%) 0.010 Propargyl alcohol 5,811 (34%) 0.000070

Quartz† 8,577 (49%) 0.0041 Glutaraldehyde 5,635 (33%) 0.0084

Water† 8,538 (49%) 1.0 Ethylene glycol 5,493 (32%) 0.0061

Isopropanol 8,031 (46%) 0.0063 Citric acid 4,832 (28%) 0.0017

Potassium 

hydroxide†

7,206 (41%) 0.013 Sodium 

hydroxide 4,656 (27%) 0.0036

Glutaraldehyde 5,927 (34%) 0.0065

Peroxydisulfuric 

acid, 

diammonium 

salt

4,618 (27%) 0.0045

* See Section 2.2.3 for a description of the standardization process.

† Chemical has a non-normal distribution and the median may not represent the central tendency of the dataset as well as 

the median of a normally distributed dataset.

Note: Analysis considered 34,675 disclosures and 676,376 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, 

including: completely parsed; unique combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 

2011, and February 28, 2013; valid CASRN; and concentrations between 0 and 100%. Disclosures that did not meet quality 

assurance criteria (3,855 disclosures) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

5

Data extracted from disclosures submitted by oil and gas well operators to FracFocus 1.0 showed 

that hydraulic fracturing fluids used between January 2011 and February 2013 generally contained

water as a base fluid, quartz as proppant, and various additive ingredients. Three additive 

ingredients (methanol, hydrochloric acid, and hydrotreated light petroleum distillates) were 

individually reported in more than 65% of oil and gas disclosures, although 692 unique ingredients 

were identified. The project database and the summary statistics presented in this report provide 

useful insights into the chemical composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids and water volumes used 

for hydraulic fracturing, which are important factors to consider when assessing potential impacts 

to drinking water resources from hydraulic fracturing.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

6 

1.Introduction

Objective

The objective of this study was to analyze data contained in the FracFocus Chemical Disclosure 

Registry 1.0 to address the following research questions from the EPA’s Plan to Study the Potential 

Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources (2011): 

 What are the identities and quantities of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids, and

how might this composition vary at a given site and across the country?

 How much water is used in hydraulic fracturing operations, and what are the sources of

this water?

FracFocus (www.fracfocus.org) is a national hydraulic fracturing chemical registry developed by 

the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission 

(IOGCC). Oil and gas production well operators disclose to FracFocus the composition of hydraulic 

fracturing fluids used at individual oil and gas production wells across the United States. 

Disclosures (i.e., the information submitted for a single well) evaluated in this report had fracture 

dates between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013, and were uploaded by operators to 

FracFocus prior to March 1, 2013. Data extracted from the disclosures included fracture date, 

operator, well identification and location, production type (i.e., oil or gas), true vertical depth, total 

water volume, and hydraulic fracturing fluid composition. Hydraulic fracturing fluid composition 

data include trade names of additives, the purpose associated with each additive, and the identity 

[i.e., chemical name and Chemical Abstracts Services Registry Number (CASRN)] and maximum 

concentration of each ingredient in an additive and in the overall hydraulic fracturing fluid. 

Chemical and water use in hydraulic fracturing fluids was summarized, with some context provided 

by a limited literature review. Data from this study will supplement information obtained from the 

published literature and other sources being considered by the EPA in the preparation of the 

agency’s assessment of the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas on drinking 

water resources. 

Background

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used to enable or enhance both conventional and 

unconventional production of oil and gas from hydrocarbon-containing rock formations. The 

practice involves the injection of fluids under pressures great enough to fracture the formation. 

Fractures resulting from the process are held open using proppants, which allows oil and gas to 

flow from within the rock to the production well. Hydraulic fracturing fluids are composed of a base 

fluid, proppants, and additives. An additive is added to the hydraulic fracturing fluid to change the 

fluid’s properties (e.g., viscosity, pH) and can be a single chemical or a mixture of chemicals. The 

choice of additives in fracturing fluids is influenced by many factors, including the geology of the 

target rock formation to be hydraulically fractured, the pressure and temperature conditions in the 

target formation, operator preference, and potential interactions between chemicals in the 

fracturing fluid (NYSDEC, 2011; Rahim et al., 2013). Although hydraulic fracturing has been used to 

increase hydrocarbon production since the 1940s (GWPC and IOGCC, 2014), recent applications of 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

7 

hydraulic fracturing with directional drilling techniques have expanded domestic production of oil 

and gas into formations where production was impractical at one time. 

In the late 2000s, the public became increasingly interested in understanding the chemical 

composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids. The GWPC and the IOGCC responded to the public’s 

interest by developing a national hydraulic fracturing chemical registry, FracFocus. Oil and gas well 

operators began to voluntarily upload information on the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids 

used at individual production wells to FracFocus 1.0 in April 2011.6

 At that time, each disclosure 

included information about the well (e.g., operator name, well identification and location, total 

water volume, production type) and hydraulic fracturing fluid composition. Hydraulic fracturing 

fluid composition information included the identity and concentration of ingredients used as base 

fluids, proppants, and additives. The public could search FracFocus 1.0 for disclosures in their local 

area, and search results were provided in the form of an individual portable document format 

(PDF) file for a specific well. In late 2012, the GWPC and the IOGCC launched FracFocus 2.0, which 

has expanded search parameters for the public and mechanisms, such as dropdown menus and 

automatic formatting, for certain fields to improve consistency and completeness of reporting by 

operators. FracFocus 2.0 became the exclusive submission method in June 2013. In early 2015, the 

GWPC and the IOGCC announced additional updates to FracFocus that include providing public 

extraction of data in a machine readable format and verification of CASRNs.7

Although FracFocus was designed to meet local informational needs, the large number of entries in 

the registry provides insights into the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids at county, state, 

regional, and national scales. To perform the analyses discussed in this report, the GWPC provided 

the EPA with more than 39,000 FracFocus 1.0 disclosures in PDF format that were submitted by 

operators before March 1, 2013. The EPA converted the data into a database (termed the “project 

database” in this report), which is a tool the public, researchers, and state resource managers may 

use to facilitate analyses of the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids.8

 

This study was conducted using disclosures with fracture dates between January 1, 2011, and 

February 28, 2013. Although some disclosures in the project database have fracture dates before 

January 1, 2011, that date was chosen as a starting point for the study time period because of the 

agreement between GWPC and participating operators to disclose information for wells fractured 

after the later of the two following dates: January 1, 2011, or the date the company agreed to 

participate (GWPC and IOGCC, 2014). The EPA chose February 28, 2013, as the endpoint for the 

6

 Operators could upload information for wells hydraulically fractured after January 1, 2011. Disclosures in FracFocus are 

assumed to include only chemical and water use information for hydraulic fracturing and not matrix treatments, which 

avoid fracturing the production formation. Matrix treatments are designed to counteract decreasing permeability 

resulting from formation damage near the wellbore by introducing acid, solvent, or chemicals into the formation 

(Schlumberger, 2014). 

7

 More information on FracFocus 3.0 is available at http://www.fracfocus.org/major-improvements-fracfocusannounced. 

8

 The project database and the accompanying Data Management and Quality Assessment Report (US EPA, 2015) are 

available at http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/published-scientific-papers. The Data Management and Quality Assessment 

Report describes the structure of the database, data fields, and quality assessment of the data. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

8 

study period because it was the last full day that operators could have uploaded files prior to the 

GWPC collecting the disclosures to send to the EPA. 

During the timeframe of this study, six of the 20 states with data in the project database began 

requiring operators to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids to FracFocus 

(Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah).9 Three other states started 

requiring disclosure to either FracFocus or the state (Louisiana, Montana, and Ohio), and five states 

required or began requiring disclosure to the state (Arkansas, Michigan, New Mexico, West Virginia, 

and Wyoming). Alabama, Alaska, California, Kansas, Mississippi, and Virginia did not have reporting 

requirements during the period of time studied in this report. 

Extensive data quality reviews of the information in the project database were conducted. The data 

were otherwise analyzed “as is” to ensure that the results represent the information disclosed by 

operators as closely as possible. Because operators can update disclosures in FracFocus after the 

original submission, the project database may not match the current data in FracFocus. 

2.Methodology for Data Extraction and Analysis

This section describes the FracFocus source data and summarizes the methodologies used to 

extract the data for inclusion in the project database and to analyze the data for presentation in this 

report. It also describes the data management and quality assurance (QA) procedures used to 

ensure that the project database and results from analyses conducted using the project database 

represent data contained in the original PDF disclosures as accurately as possible. 

Data extraction and QA methods used in this study are also described in the QA project plan (The 

Cadmus Group, Inc., 2013). The accompanying Data Management and Quality Assessment Report (US 

EPA, 2015) provides additional detail on methodology for extracting and analyzing data, including 

specifics about database parameters. 

Database Development

2.1.1. Source Data 

The source data provided by the GWPC were a bulk archive of 39,136 disclosures in PDF format 

that were submitted by well operators to the FracFocus 1.0 website prior to March 1, 2013. Each 

disclosure was initially submitted by the well operator to FracFocus in the form of a Microsoft Excel 

spreadsheet and contained information on one production well that was hydraulically fractured 

with a single fracture date. Each Excel spreadsheet was then converted into a PDF file by the 

FracFocus website. 

The PDF disclosures given to the EPA were created using FracFocus 1.0. Although FracFocus 2.0 

became an option for submitting information in late 2012, it was not the exclusive disclosure 

mechanism until June 2013. Because all disclosures in the project database have information on 

production type and because disclosures created using FracFocus 2.0 do not contain this 

9

 Between February 5, 2011, and April 13, 2012, Pennsylvania required reporting to the state. As of April 14, 2012, 

Pennsylvania required reporting to both the state and FracFocus. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

9 

information, all disclosures used to create the project database are assumed to have been generated 

using FracFocus 1.0. 

Each FracFocus 1.0 disclosure contains two tables of information, referred to as the “well header 

table” and the “ingredients table” in this report. The well header table (outlined in blue in Figure 1) 

contains information about the well itself, including: fracture date, location, operator name, well 

name and number, American Petroleum Institute (API) well number, production type, true vertical 

depth (TVD), and the total water volume used for hydraulic fracturing. The ingredients table 

(outlined in red in Figure 1) provides information about the composition of the hydraulic fracturing 

fluid. Trade names of additives, the purpose associated with each additive, and the identity and 

maximum concentration of each ingredient in an additive and in the overall hydraulic fracturing 

fluid are listed in the ingredients table. 

2.1.2. Data Conversion and Extraction 

To extract data from the disclosures, the original 39,136 PDF files were converted to Extensible 

Markup Language (XML) 2003 spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel 2003 XML) files using Adobe Acrobat 

Pro X (Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2011). The XML files were converted to comma-separated 

values (CSV) files using a script developed in Python 2.7 (Python Software Foundation, 2012); the 

script used the Beautiful Soup 4 library (Richardson, 2013) to read the XML files. The script parses 

and sorts the XML data into CSV files. Parsing of the data resulted in two CSV files: one file with data 

from the well header table and the other file with data from the ingredients table. The project 

database (Microsoft Access 2013; Microsoft Corporation, 2012) into which the CSV files were 

incorporated, therefore, has two primary tables: one for well header data and one for ingredient 

Ingredients Table

Well Header Table

Figure 1. Example FracFocus 1.0 disclosure.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

10

data. The two-table structure was chosen because an individual disclosure only has one set of well 

header values, but can have a variety of ingredients.

The well header and ingredients tables in the project database are linked by a constructed unique 

identification field. The field was necessary, because combinations of API well number and fracture 

date were found to not be unique in the dataset and, therefore, could not serve as unique 

identifiers. Two hundred twenty-eight disclosures were observed to have been updated at times 

ranging from the same day as the original submission to as late as 588 days after the original 

submission. In cases where there are duplicate disclosures with the same API well number and 

fracture date, the most recent file (based on file modified date of the PDF) was deemed the 

authoritative disclosure.10 Duplicate disclosures occurred, in part, because well operators 

occasionally submitted an initial disclosure with preliminary data and later submitted a final 

disclosure with revised or updated data for the same well/hydraulic fracturing event, but could not 

then remove the initial disclosure.11

2.1.3. Parsing Success

Parsing is defined as converting information from the PDF disclosures into data tables in the project 

database. Success in parsing depends upon how effectively the software identifies symbols in 

specific positions on the PDF files and categorizes them into the appropriate data fields in the 

project database. 

Data from more than 98% (38,530 of 39,136) of the original PDF disclosures were parsed and are 

included in the project database. No data from 606 PDF files could be extracted during the parsing 

process, and, therefore, none of the data from these disclosures are present in the project 

database.12 Well header data were parsed from all of the 38,530 PDF files included in the project 

database, and ingredient data were also parsed from 37,017 PDF files (96% of disclosures in the 

project database). Difficulties in extracting all data from an individual PDF disclosure arose because 

the creation of the CSV files from XML files is highly sensitive to the original file formatting. Most 

disclosures were prepared in a consistent format that enabled relatively straightforward parsing of 

data. However, some disclosures were uploaded to the FracFocus 1.0 website using templates that 

had been modified by well operators, with columns or rows added or removed, or other formatting 

changes. The modified templates could sometimes cause the parsing script to skip disclosures or 

portions of disclosures. The effect of excluding data that failed to parse is that, based on percentage, 

some states (e.g., Colorado, North Dakota, and Utah) with partially parsed or unparsed disclosures 

are not as fully represented in the project database as they are in the PDF disclosures received from 

the GWPC. The numbers of fully parsed, partially parsed, and unparsed data by state are presented 

in Table 1.

 

10 The date of file modification was available to this project because it was associated with the PDF files given to the EPA 

by the GWPC. The file modified date cannot be determined from the PDF disclosures available for public download on the 

FracFocus website.

11 FracFocus 2.0 allows operators to remove preliminary disclosures in such cases.

12 The 606 disclosures accounted for 1.5% of all the disclosures given to the EPA by the GWPC. Data from the 606 

disclosures corresponded to a small amount of data compared to the entire project database. Manual entry of the data 

was not performed.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

11

Additional parsing difficulties were identified during initial analyses of the project database that 

resulted in unusual query results. Targeted comparisons of the project database to the original 

PDFs files were performed to investigate the cause of unusual query results.13 The targeted 

 

13 If the results of an analysis indicated one or a few specific disclosures included problematic or unusual data, such as a 

particularly high water volume in a dataset with low volumes, the data were confirmed with the original PDF file(s). For 

unusual entries in a few tens of disclosures, approximately one PDF disclosure out of every 10 to 15 containing the 

unusual data was compared to the project database. For problems more frequently encountered (e.g., problematic data in 

multiple fields or fields with multiple entries), two dozen disclosures from seven states were selected and the original 

PDF files, the XML files, and the resulting database entries were compared. Comparisons to the original PDF files were 

also conducted for some database entries that were not believed to be outliers, but were otherwise noteworthy. For 

example, in compiling data on non-aqueous base fluid ingredients, the original PDFs for all disclosures that used 

hydrocarbon-based fracturing fluids without water were compared to the project database to verify that data from the 

disclosures were accurately parsed into the project database.

Table 1. Number of parsed, partially parsed, and unparsed disclosures, summarized by state.

State Number of 

disclosures Completely parsed Partially parsed (well header only) Unparsed

Alabama 55 55 0 0

Alaska 37 37 0 0

Arkansas 1,462 1,461 1 0

California 754 727 16 11

Colorado 5,207 4,755 314 138

Kansas 139 134 3 2

Louisiana 1,058 1,035 8 15

Michigan 16 14 1 1

Mississippi 6 4 0 2

Montana 222 206 8 8

New Mexico 1,181 1,144 26 11

North Dakota 2,378 2,092 176 110

Ohio 156 147 1 8

Oklahoma 1,950 1,861 70 19

Pennsylvania 2,573 2,541 23 9

Texas 18,388 17,502 692 194

Utah 1,495 1,348 90 57

Virginia 90 90 0 0

West Virginia 295 280 4 11

Wyoming 1,503 1,426 67 10

State Uncertain* 171 158 13 0

Entire Dataset 39,136 37,017 1,513 606

* State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria (Section 2.2.1).

Note: Analysis considered all disclosures (39,136).
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

12

comparisons found problematic entries in the project database, such as disclosures with invalid 

entries in multiple fields, multiple entries in the trade name or purpose fields, infeasible data in the 

concentration fields (i.e., letters instead of numbers), and unusually high or low water volumes. 

Comparisons to the original PDF files indicated that problematic entries in the database likely 

resulted from atypical reporting styles, including modified data templates that interfered with 

parsing, and possible data entry errors. The types and causes of problematic entries in the project 

database were not quantified, and the large number of ingredient records made individual 

correction of these errors infeasible. Instead, problematic entries in the project database were 

managed through the use of QA filters that were designed to identify data elements that could not 

be used for analyses (Sections 2.2 and 2.3). No changes were made to the project database as a 

result of comparisons to the original PDF files, in keeping with the approach of presenting the data 

as reported in the FracFocus 1.0 disclosures to the greatest degree possible. In summary, the large 

number of disclosures in the project database and the use of QA filters in analyses ensured that the 

results reflect the data in the PDF disclosures as accurately as possible. 

Data Standardization and Quality Assurance

An assessment of data quality ensured that results of the analyses reflected the data contained in 

disclosures, while identifying obviously invalid or incorrect data to exclude from analyses. Data that 

were parsed and incorporated in the project database must first pass two primary QA criteria to be 

included in analyses: the combination of fracture date and API well number for each disclosure 

must be unique (i.e., no duplicates), and the fracture date must occur between January 1, 2011, and 

February 28, 2013.14 While duplicate disclosures from the same fracturing event (i.e., same API well 

number and same fracture date) were excluded from analyses, more than one disclosure for a given 

well was included if the fracture dates on the disclosures differed. As described in Section 2.1.1, 228 

wells had more than one disclosure with the same fracture date, and the PDF file with the most 

recently modified date was considered to be the authoritative version. 

Table 2 lists the numbers of disclosures that were successfully parsed and the met primary QA 

criteria. It shows that 38,050 disclosures (99% of the 38,530 disclosures in the project database) 

met the two primary criteria and were candidates for analyses that rely on well header data (e.g., 

analyses of well locations and water volumes). The number of disclosures with parsed well header 

and ingredients data that met the two primary criteria was 36,544 (95% of the disclosures in the 

database). These disclosures were candidates for analyses of additive ingredients, water sources, 

and proppants

To help identify invalid and extreme data and prepare for data analysis, the fields in the database 

were subject to further QA review (beyond establishment of the two primary criteria of unique 

status and date range). Data values in the project database may be invalid, erroneous, extreme, or 

missing either due to information entered into the original FracFocus 1.0 template or to the parsing 

process that was used to create the project database. The QA process checks for internal 

consistency among locational data, sets simple criteria for invalid data (e.g., incorrectly nonnumeric entries in fields such as total water volume, fluid concentrations, and CASRNs), and 

identifies extreme outliers. The QA process cannot, and was not intended to, determine the 

 

14 Two hundred fifty-one disclosures were excluded because the fracture date did not meet the date criterion.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

13

accuracy of the original data as entered by operators. Upon review, certain data fields were 

subjected to simple standardizations by correcting for capitalization, hyphens, and slashes; spelling; 

units; punctuation; and synonymous entries.

The project database includes two presentations of the data extracted from the PDF disclosures to 

enable straightforward review of all changes and streamlined tracing of disclosures back to the 

source data. The first presentation is the data as originally parsed without any formatting 

corrections, or standardizations. The second version contains data after formatting, corrections, 

and standardization were performed and also includes QA fields that indicate whether data in 

certain fields meet QA criteria. The use of QA fields allows the data to remain unaltered (aside from 

the standardizations and corrections described below), but permits specific entries to be excluded 

from an analysis (or properly accounted for) if they do not meet QA criteria. This approach results 

in different numbers of disclosures being suitable for different types of analyses, and it serves to 

maximize the number of disclosures that can be analyzed by not being more restrictive than 

needed.

2.2.1. Quality Assurance of Locational Data

Well locational data in the well header table were subject to QA review to facilitate reliable 

comparisons of hydraulic fracturing fluid composition among states and counties. Well locations 

were validated by comparing the three types of locational data reported by operators: latitude and 

longitude, state and county, and state and county information encoded in the API well number. 

Because the three locational sources were easily available and comparable, the location was 

determined to have met QA criteria if all three types of locational data agreed.15 The QA review was 

performed separately for state and county information. If a disclosure did not meet locational 

 

15 Well locations in Alaska were not subject to county-level locational QA criteria, because the five-digit API well numbers 

in Alaska are not organized by counties. The coordinates for all disclosures from Alaska fall within the boundaries of the 

North Slope borough, which is shown on maps in this report.

Table 2. Number and percentage of disclosures that had data successfully parsed from the well header and 

ingredients tables and that met the primary QA criteria.

Well header 

parsed

Ingredient 

table parsed

Primary QA criteria

Number of 

disclosures

Percentage of 

disclosures Unique 

disclosures*

Fracture date

within study 

timeframe†

39,136 100.0%

Yes 38,530 98.5%

Yes Yes 38,301 97.9%

Yes Yes Yes 38,050 97.2%

Yes Yes 37,017 94.6%

Yes Yes Yes 36,793 94.0%

Yes Yes Yes Yes 36,544 93.4%

* Unique combination of fracture date and API well number (i.e., no duplicates).

†

January 1, 2011 through February 28, 2013.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

14

criteria, it was either excluded from analyses that required locational information or was included 

in a category that indicated the uncertainty in location. For example, tables that provide data by 

state include a row for “State Uncertain,” which includes disclosures with inconsistency among the 

three types of state locational information. For maps showing data by county, data were excluded 

from analyses if the disclosures had inconsistent county locational information. A hatched pattern 

in the map legend represents counties where all disclosures failed the county locational QA review. 

Disclosures for which state and county locational data did not meet the QA criteria were excluded

from analyses that focused on specific counties (Sections 3.1.3 and 3.2.4). 

Several steps were conducted to perform the locational QA. The state and county locations derived 

from the API well number; the state and county assigned using latitude and longitude; and the 

operator reported state and county locations were compared to one another in Microsoft Excel, 

resulting in six evaluations of locational accuracy. First, the leading five digits from the API well 

number were converted to state and county names using lookup tables from the Society of 

Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (2010). Second, the states and counties (US Census Bureau, 

2011) that intersect the coordinates reported in the latitude and longitude fields of the well header 

were determined in a geographic information system (GIS) using ESRI ArcGIS 10.1 software (ESRI, 

2012) after transforming all coordinates to the North American Datum 83 geographic coordinate 

system. The states and counties that correspond to the transformed latitude and longitude fields 

were joined using the ArcGIS 10.1 Spatial Join geoprocessing tool, and the resulting attribute table 

was exported to Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, 2002). The comparisons ignored 

variations in capitalization, spaces, and hyphens. The QA fields were used in the project database to 

indicate whether the three locational data fields agreed, allowing the user to select only the data 

with appropriate QA criteria for any given analysis. 

Among the 38,050 disclosures meeting the two primary QA criteria, the state and county entries for 

the three locational fields agreed in 36,306 disclosures (95% of 38,050). One hundred sixty-two 

disclosures (0.43% of 38,050) failed to pass state locational QA criteria, and 1,744 disclosures 

(4.6% of 38,050) did not pass county and state locational QA criteria. State locational data that met 

QA criteria were available to pair with ingredients data for 36,395 disclosures (96% of 38,050 

disclosures). For 34,880 disclosures (92% of 38,050 disclosures), ingredients data were parsed and 

both state and county locational data met QA criteria.

2.2.2. Addition of Geologic Information

To offer basic geologic context for the location of a disclosure, hydrocarbon basins (US EIA, 2007, 

2011a, b; USGS, 1995) are shown on several figures in this report.16 The hydrocarbon basin and 

play names were added to the project database to allow analysis at a basin or play level. The 

assignment of basin and play names to each disclosure is based solely on co-location of the 

disclosure coordinates with the basin shapefile using ArcGIS 10.1, without further verification by 

either the state or operator. Basins and plays were joined to each disclosure’s latitude and 

longitude coordinates in the project database using the Spatial Join geoprocessing tool in ArcGIS 

 

16 Figures 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 display hydrocarbon basins in addition to data from the project database. Appendix A includes a 

map of shale basins in the contiguous United States.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

15

10.1. If a disclosure was located within the boundaries of two shale plays (i.e., in an area with 

stacked plays), both names were indicated in the project database field (e.g., Marcellus/Utica). 

The hydrocarbon basin and play datasets are used for general reference purposes with the 

understanding that the boundaries are approximate and that production may not be occurring from 

the co-located play.17 The shale basin boundaries are particularly useful because they capture the 

general extent of many major sedimentary basins in the contiguous United States and indicate 

regions with active resource extraction. Geologic basins include all the individual formations within 

the basin and provide a more confident, albeit general, geologic context to disclosures.

2.2.3. Quality Assurance of Ingredients

Ingredient names and CASRNs are entered by operators in the ingredients table. The names can 

include a wide range of variations for a given ingredient, including synonyms, misspellings, 

different punctuations and formatting, and different alpha-numeric spacing. To identify ingredients 

used in hydraulic fracturing fluids, entries of both names and CASRNs were verified and 

standardized.18 The CASRNs were determined valid for analyses after being verified with the 

Chemical Abstracts Service (2014); ingredient records with invalid CASRNs were excluded from 

most analyses.19 Note that this approach assumed that the CASRN entered into the database is 

correct. The project database contains a total of 692 valid and unique CASRNs for ingredients 

reported in disclosures that met the primary QA criteria.

Ingredient names for verified CASRNs were standardized using a list of unique chemical names 

paired with CASRNs developed by the EPA. This standardization was needed because of the abovenoted range of presentations of ingredient names. Table 3 shows examples of variations in 

ingredient names as entered by operators and the standardized chemical name assigned by the 

EPA; this standardization facilitated analyses of ingredients. Because the ingredient names were 

standardized, the names found in the report and the project database may differ from the names 

reported by operators in the original PDF disclosures. 

The EPA used standardized chemical names from Appendix A in the agency’s Study of the Potential 

Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources: Progress Report (2012) for the EPAstandardized chemical names used in the project database and in this report.20 Chemical name and 

structure quality control methods were used to standardize chemical names for CASRNs found in 

 

17 Shale plays assigned to the disclosures in the project database using GIS shapefiles were compared to corresponding 

information from the commercial database DrillingInfo (2011) to evaluate the accuracy of the GIS method. DrillingInfo 

records were matched with 7,153 disclosures in the project database using the API well number. Assignment of shale 

plays to disclosures in the project database using GIS agreed with the play reported to DrillingInfo in 83% (5,929 of 7,153 

disclosures) of the disclosure locations (US EPA, 2015).

18 A CASRN and chemical name combination identify a chemical substance, which can be a single chemical (e.g., 

hydrochloric acid) or a mixture of chemicals (e.g., hydrotreated light petroleum distillates).

19 Analyses of additive ingredients, proppants, and non-aqueous base fluid constituents required valid CASRNs. The valid 

CASRN QA criteria was not used for the analysis of water sources, because operators entered “water” or another term in 

the trade name field and did not always enter a chemical name or CASRN.

20 Table A-1 in the Progress Report. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

16

the project database but not included in Appendix A of the Progress Report.

21 The same methods 

were used in the development of Appendix A of the Progress Report and ensure correct chemical 

names and CASRNs. 

In applying the EPA-standardized chemical list to the ingredient records in the project database, 

standardized chemical names were assigned to 787,522 ingredient records (65% of 1,218,003 

records) from the 36,544 unique, fully parsed disclosures that met the date criterion. Because the 

CASRNs for the remaining 35% (430,481 records) of ingredient records were invalid, they could 

not be assigned a standardized chemical name and were excluded from analyses of additive 

ingredients.

Fields were established in the project database to indicate whether each ingredient record met QA 

criteria for the CASRN, additive concentration, and fracturing fluid concentration fields. Individual 

 

21 In the majority of cases, valid CASRNs and the associated ingredient names in the project database were paired 

correctly for a given CASRN. If an ingredient name (whether specific or non-specific) did not match the CASRN reported 

by the operator, the CASRN was added to a chemical name standardization list and assigned a correct chemical name. The 

chemical standardization list consists of CASRNs paired with appropriate chemical names and was used to standardize 

chemical names in the project database based on the CASRNs reported by operators. This process was undertaken 

because numerous synonyms and misspellings for a given chemical were present in the original data. Standardized, 

specific chemical names were identified using the EPA’s Distributed Structure-Searchable Database Network (US EPA, 

2013), the EPA’s Substance Registry Services database (US EPA, 2014a), and the U.S. National Library of Medicine ChemID 

database (US NLM, 2014). Additional information on chemical name and structure quality control methods can be found 

at http://www.epa.gov/ncct/dsstox/ChemicalInfQAProcedures.html. 

Table 3. Examples of ingredient name standardization.

Operator-Reported 

CASRN

Examples of Operator-Reported

Ingredient Names 

EPA-Standardized Chemical Name

7647-01-0 Hydrogen chloride Hydrochloric acid

Hydrochloric acid

HCl

Hydrogen Chloride Solution

Hydroogen Chloride

7647-14-5 Sodium chloride Sodium chloride

Sodium chloide

Sodium chlorite

64742-47-8 Distillates Distillates, petroleum, hydrotreated light

Distillates (petroleum)

Distillates petro

Distillates petroleum, hydrotreated

77-92-9 Citric Acid Anhydrous Citric acid

Citric Acid Solution

Citric Acid

107-21-1 Ethylene Glycol Ethylene glycol

Ethyene Glycol

Ethylene Dlyco

Ehtylene Glycol

14808-60-7 Quartz Quartz

Crystalline silica

Silicon dioxide

Crystalline silica quartz
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

17

concentrations (reported as maximum concentrations) of ingredients in additives and in hydraulic 

fracturing fluid were considered valid and included in appropriate analyses if they had a value 

between 0% and 100%. In this way, non-numeric entries and implausibly high numeric values (e.g., 

typographical errors from operators, invalid entries due to parsing difficulties) were excluded from 

summary statistics. Ingredient records that did not meet the 0% to 100% criterion for the additive 

and fracturing fluid concentration fields were excluded from analyses for which median and 

percentile calculations were performed. A total of 295 disclosures (0.81% of 36,544 disclosures) 

had no valid entries in either the additive or fracturing fluid concentration field for any of their 

ingredient records. Invalid entries for both concentration fields were found for 271,312 individual 

ingredient records (22% of 1,218,003 ingredient records).22 (Some disclosures had a mix of 

ingredients with valid and invalid concentrations. Thus, the 271,312 ingredients were spread out 

over more than the 295 disclosures.)

Lack of a valid CASRN and ingredient concentration data in the proper field may have been due to 

several factors. Operators sometimes did not list CASRN entries for ingredients.23 Fields for 

concentration data were sometimes left blank. Also, operators may have made data entry errors or 

information from the original PDFs may have been assigned to the wrong fields due to the parsing 

difficulties related to modified formats.

Confidential Business Information. Operators can specify ingredients as confidential business 

information (CBI; also referred to as trade secret or proprietary) when submitting disclosures to 

FracFocus. As a result, the identity of a specific chemical may not be known for the analyses

conducted in this report. Operators indicated CBI ingredients using 239 terms in the CASRN and 

chemical name fields that clearly indicate that the ingredients are considered a trade secret. 

Omission of the chemical name or CASRN from a CBI record disqualified that record for additive 

ingredient analyses. The CBI ingredient records in the project database were reviewed to assess the 

frequency at which operators claimed CBI status and the extent to which disclosures available for 

summary analyses would be reduced by the exclusion of CBI ingredient records. More than 70% of 

disclosures contained at least one ingredient identified as CBI, as shown in Table 4. Of the 25,796 

disclosures that contained CBI ingredients (excluding duplicates and those that did not meet the 

date criterion), the average number of CBI ingredients per disclosure was five. The total number of 

ingredient records claimed as CBI or a related term was 129,311, or 11% of all ingredient records 

that were completely parsed from disclosures that met the primary QA criteria. Arthur et al. (2014) 

reported a similar proportion of CBI records in their study of FracFocus data (13% of ingredients; 

approximately 200,000 records). Although these ingredients are reported as proprietary, 

information on the general chemical class is frequently provided; related information is 

summarized in Appendix B.

Atypical Formatting. Atypical formatting of ingredient and trade name information on disclosures 

also caused information to fail QA criteria and be excluded from analyses. Data were entered in 

some disclosures so that trade names and purposes were decoupled from ingredient names, 

 

22 Disclosures containing these ingredient records meet the primary QA criteria.

23 The FracFocus 2.0 submission system prohibits operators or their registered agents from entering an ingredient 

without a CASRN and issues a warning if the CASRN is not properly formatted or has the incorrect number of digits.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

18

CASRNs, and maximum concentrations. Such reporting styles allow the operator to disclose 

chemicals while protecting proprietary information. The decoupling of related information 

occurred in one of three ways: 

 An operator entered all trade names into a single cell in the template and all purposes into 

another cell.

 An operator entered trade names and purposes in a set of rows without ingredient

information and entered ingredient names, CASRNs, and maximum concentrations in a 

series of rows below all of the trade names and purposes. This strategy is proposed by the 

Table 4. Additive ingredients reported as confidential business information (CBI), summarized by state.

State Number of disclosures with 

parsed ingredients table

Percent of disclosures with at least 

one reported CBI ingredient

Alabama 55 0%

Alaska 37 100%

Arkansas 1,449 78%

California 704 80%

Colorado 4,624 57%

Kansas 133 60%

Louisiana 1,030 60%

Michigan 14 79%

Mississippi 4 100%

Montana 205 68%

New Mexico 1,136 89%

North Dakota 2,078 64%

Ohio 147 86%

Oklahoma 1,839 68%

Pennsylvania 2,463 48%

Texas 17,384 76%

Utah 1,339 91%

Virginia 90 24%

West Virginia 273 40%

Wyoming 1,391 75%

State Uncertain* 149 82%

Entire Dataset 36,544 71%

* State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria. 

Note: Analysis considered 36,544 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: 

completely parsed; unique combination of fracture date and API well number; and fracture date between

January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (1,986) or 

other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

19

Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) as appropriate for operators to fully disclose 

chemicals and remain protective of business interests (SEAB, 2014).

 An operator entered some ingredients in a section separate from other ingredients, which 

resulted in ingredients being included in unintended, incorrect fields when parsed. An 

example would be non-hazardous ingredients not found on Material Safety Data Sheets 

(MSDS) that operators disclosed to FracFocus. The non-MSDS ingredients were entered in 

a separate section than ingredients found on an MSDS. The disclosures typically included a 

red cell with explanatory text separating the two areas of the ingredients table. The text in 

the red separator itself could be incorporated into the ingredient name or CASRN fields 

incorrectly when parsed.

These entry options rendered it difficult to match ingredients with purposes and trade names and 

may have resulted in invalid entries in the trade name, supplier, ingredient name, or CASRN fields. 

Ingredient records that met the critical QA criteria (valid CASRN, valid maximum concentrations) 

were incorporated into basic analyses of ingredient occurrence even if their associated trade name 

and purpose fields had problematic entries (because those two fields are not relevant to all 

analyses.) Quantifying the number of ingredient records and disclosures affected by the data entry 

formats would require a comprehensive comparison of the original PDFs to the project database, 

which was infeasible given the large numbers of ingredient records and disclosures.

Analyses

Analyses were conducted to study disclosure locations and ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing 

fluids on regional, state, and national scales. Summary information was also compiled to allow a 

comparison among five counties with extensive hydraulic fracturing activities, as indicated by the 

number of disclosures in the project database. 

Analyses of the project database were designed to ensure that the results presented in this report 

represent the data contained in the original PDF disclosures, while identifying obviously invalid or 

incorrect data to exclude from analyses. For these reasons, results of the analyses represent only 

the data found in the project database, and an extrapolation of the results to the entirety of 

hydraulically fractured oil and gas production wells in the United States was not conducted.

2.3.1. Specific Criteria for Analyses

For each analysis, information was extracted from the project database by designing a query that 

included specific QA criteria to address limitations in the project database. As noted in Section 2.2, 

the following primary QA criteria were applied to all analyses: a unique combination of fracture 

date and API well number and a fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013 

(Table 1; 38,050 disclosures met these two criteria). The search criteria described below were used 

in queries to help target specific types of information (e.g., use of search terms or selection of 

certain types of purposes or ingredients). Table 5 identifies search filters and QA criteria used for 

figures and tables presented in this report, along with the resulting numbers of disclosures and 

ingredient records included in each analysis.

Specific Criteria and Approaches for Additive Ingredient Analyses. Analyses of the occurrence or 

concentrations of additive ingredients included ingredient records from trade names with purposes 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

20

other than those associated with base fluids or proppants. Ingredient records for these analyses 

were required to have valid maximum concentrations (between 0% and 100%) and valid CASRNs 

(Section 2.2.3). The above QA criteria were met by 676,376 ingredient records (row for Table 7 in 

Table 5).

Specific Criteria and Approaches for Base Fluid Analyses. Disclosures were included in analyses of 

total water volumes if the entry in the total water volume field in the well header table (Figure 1) 

was less than or equal to 50 million gallons.24 Two hundred fifty-five disclosures did not meet the 

volume criterion and were excluded from relevant analyses: 11 disclosures exceeded 50 million 

gallons; water volume was not reported for 165 disclosures; and for 79 disclosures, the water 

volume was ambiguous as parsed.

Water as a base fluid was identified by querying the trade name and comments fields for a suite of 

terms and with the criterion of a maximum hydraulic fracturing fluid concentration greater than or 

equal to 1% by mass. The threshold of 1% distinguished water as a base fluid from water listed as 

an additive ingredient. The cutoff of 1% was chosen after considering the median and 95th 

percentile maximum fluid concentrations of frequently reported additive ingredients as well as the 

median maximum fluid concentration of all additive ingredients per disclosure.25 Because operators 

often left the purpose field blank when listing water as a base fluid, the purpose field was not used 

for this analysis. The analyses of base fluids included 36,046 unique disclosures with fracture dates 

in the study time period and used ingredient records with maximum fluid concentrations greater 

than 1% by mass (Table 5; rows for Tables 17 and 18).

To compile information on water sources, the project database was queried for the use of source 

water descriptors in the trade name and comments fields. Although not explicitly required by 

FracFocus, some operators included terminology in their submissions that indicated the source of 

water used for the base fluid (e.g., “fresh,” “surface water”). Operators most commonly listed source 

water information as a trade name or in the comments field and usually included estimates of the 

maximum concentration of water type in the hydraulic fracturing fluid.

To identify base fluid ingredients that were used either to enhance water-based fluid systems or as 

an alternative to water-based systems, the project database was queried for non-aqueous 

ingredients with base fluid-related terms in the purpose field. Preliminary queries indicated that 

non-aqueous constituents such as gases and hydrocarbons were identified by purpose (whereas 

water used as a base fluid is often not listed with a purpose). Furthermore, some constituents were 

identified with more than one purpose even when above the 1% threshold (e.g., petroleum

 

24 The criterion of 50 million gallons or less for the reported total water volume was chosen based on the identification of 

extreme values in the distribution of the data and after speaking with Mike Nickolaus of the GWPC regarding the extreme 

values compared to ranges of known water use. Eleven disclosures indicated water volumes in excess of 50 million 

gallons per disclosure, with the largest total water volume reported as greater than 100 million gallons. Typical per well 

water volumes reported by Clark et al. (2013), Jiang et al. (2014), and Nicot and Scanlon (2012), are well below the 50 

million gallon per disclosure threshold.

25 Well operators reported the maximum concentration of an ingredient in the additive and in the hydraulic fracturing 

fluid. Therefore, the median and 5th and 95th percentile concentration values presented in this report represent those 

values of the reported maximum concentrations.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

21

Table 5. Filters, QA criteria, disclosures, and ingredient records associated with analyses presented in this report. “N/A” indicates not applicable.

Figure or Table

WELL HEADER CRITERIA INGREDIENT TABLE CRITERIA TOTAL COUNTS

Well header parsed

Unique disclosure

Fracture date within 

study timeframe

Valid water volume

Location filter state

Location filter county

Production type

Ingredient table parsed

Valid CASRN

Valid additive & fluid

concentrations

Purpose: Proppant

Purpose: Base fluid

Valid purpose

Ingredient type

Disclosures

Ingredients

Figure 2. Geographic distribution of disclosures in 

the project database Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,888 N/A

Figure 3. Geographic distribution of disclosures by 

production type Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,888 N/A

Figure 4. Distribution of fracture dates in the 

project database Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,888 N/A

Figure 5. Cumulative total water use, summarized 

by county Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,888 N/A

Figure 6. Median total water volumes per 

disclosure, summarized by county Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,888 N/A

Figure 7. Variability in reported total water volumes 

per disclosure, as measured by the difference 

between the 5th and 95th percentiles

Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,888 N/A

Table 4. Additive ingredients reported as 

confidential business information (CBI), 

summarized by state

Yes Yes Yes Yes CBI 36,544 N/A

Table 6. Number and percentage of unique 

disclosures in the project database with a fracture 

date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 

2013

Yes Yes Yes 38,050 N/A

Table 7. Number of unique additive ingredients per 

disclosure, summarized by state Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 34,675 676,376

Table 8. Twenty most frequently reported additive 

ingredients in oil disclosures, ranked by frequency 

of occurrence

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 17,640 385,013

Table continued on next page
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

22

Figure or Table

WELL HEADER CRITERIA INGREDIENT TABLE CRITERIA TOTAL COUNTS

Well header parsed

Unique disclosure

Fracture date within 

study timeframe

Valid water volume

Location filter state

Location filter county

Production type

Ingredient table parsed

Valid CASRN

Valid additive & fluid

concentrations

Purpose: Proppant

Purpose: Base fluid

Valid purpose

Ingredient type

Disclosures

Ingredients

Table 9. Twenty most frequently reported additive 

ingredients in gas disclosures, ranked by frequency 

of occurrence

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 17,035 291,363

Table 10. Frequently reported additive ingredients 

and commonly listed purposes for additives that 

contain the ingredients

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 34,675 676,376

Table 11. Counties selected to illustrate diversity in 

additive ingredients at small scales Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 4,066 N/A

Table 12. Comparison of 20 most frequently 

reported additive ingredients among selected 

counties

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 3,622 61,502

Table 13. Non-aqueous ingredients reported in base 

fluids Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Base Fluids 34,675 676,376

Table 14. Use of non-aqueous ingredients in base 

fluids, summarized by state Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Base Fluids 34,675 676,376

Table 15. Total water volumes, summarized by state Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,796 N/A

Table 16. Total water volumes for selected counties 

in approximately the 90th percentile of 

disclosures

Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,796 N/A

Table 17. Number of disclosures having terms 

suggestive of water sources, summarized 

by state

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Base Fluids 36,046 925,972*

Table 18. Median maximum fluid concentrations of 

water by source, summarized by state Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Base Fluids 36,046 925,972*

Table continued on next page
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

23

Figure or Table

WELL HEADER CRITERIA INGREDIENT TABLE CRITERIA TOTAL COUNTS

Well header parsed

Unique disclosure

Fracture date within 

study timeframe

Valid water volume

Location filter state

Location filter county

Production type

Ingredient table parsed

Valid CASRN

Valid additive & fluid

concentrations

Purpose: Proppant

Purpose: Base fluid

Valid purpose

Ingredient type

Disclosures

Ingredients

Table 19. Ten most frequently reported proppant 

ingredients, ranked by frequency 

of occurrence

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Proppants 34,675 676,376

Table B-1. Chemical families for CBI ingredient 

records Yes Yes Yes Yes CBI 36,544 N/A

Table B-2. Most frequently reported chemical 

families among CBI ingredients and their most 

commonly listed purposes

Yes Yes Yes Yes CBI 36,544 N/A

Appendix C. Histograms of hydraulic fracturing fluid 

concentrations for most frequently reported 

additive ingredients

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 34,675 676,376

Table D-1. Disclosures per state, summarized by 

well operator Yes Yes Yes 38,050 N/A

Table E-1. Reporting regulations for states with data 

in the project database Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,888 N/A

Table F-1. Number of disclosures, summarized by 

additive purpose categories

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Additives /

CBI

36,544 1,218,003

Table G-1. Twenty most frequently reported 

additive ingredients in Andrews County, Texas, 

ranked by frequency of occurrence

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 1,088 20,716

Table G-2. Twenty most frequently reported 

additive ingredients in Bradford County, 

Pennsylvania, ranked by frequency of occurrence

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 510 6,002

Table G-3. Twenty-one most frequently reported 

additive ingredients in Dunn County, North Dakota, 

ranked by frequency of occurrence

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 311 6,450

Table continued on next page
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

24

Figure or Table

WELL HEADER CRITERIA INGREDIENT TABLE CRITERIA TOTAL COUNTS

Well header parsed

Unique disclosure

Fracture date within 

study timeframe

Valid water volume

Location filter state

Location filter county

Production type

Ingredient table parsed

Valid CASRN

Valid additive & fluid

concentrations

Purpose: Proppant

Purpose: Base fluid

Valid purpose

Ingredient type

Disclosures

Ingredients

Table G-4. Twenty most frequently reported 

additive ingredients in Garfield County, Colorado, 

ranked by frequency of occurrence

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 1,166 17,337

Table G-5. Twenty most frequently reported 

additive ingredients in Kern County, California, 

ranked by frequency of occurrence

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Additives 547 10,997

Table H-1. Total water volumes, summarized by 

county

Yes Yes Yes Yes 37,796 N/A

* Valid maximum concentration in additive criteria not used for this analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

25

distillates are listed as a gelling agent as well as a carrier ingredient). It was, therefore, considered 

reasonable to use the purpose field for this analysis. Purpose terms that were used to identify these 

ingredients included variations on: base fluid, fracturing fluid, gas, carrier, foamer or foaming agent, 

energizer or energizing agent, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. As with water base fluids, a maximum 

fluid concentration of 1% was chosen as the minimum limit to identify non-aqueous ingredients as 

base fluids. The analyses of non-aqueous base fluids included 34,675 unique disclosures and used 

ingredient records with maximum fluid concentrations greater than 1% by mass, and valid CASRN 

and concentrations (Table 5; rows for Tables 13 and 14).

Description of Figure and Table Footnotes. Footnotes were developed to provide transparency about 

how data were used for each analysis, because the number of disclosures and ingredient records for 

individual analyses varied depending on the QA criteria used. The use of QA criteria in the analyses 

is described in footnotes associated with each figure and table throughout Section 3. The 

descriptions and numbers in the footnotes do not reflect other analysis-specific choices that were 

made, such as screening for certain purposes or specific concentrations (e.g. purpose of base fluid, 

concentration ≥1% by mass). Such decisions are described in the text in this section and in other 

appropriate sections. 

2.3.2. Calculations

The approach to calculations of summary statistics was chosen to support an understandable 

synopsis of the analysis results, while minimizing the effects of limitations associated with the 

project database. In addition to the parsing problems discussed above, invalid values in the 

database also exist due to blank fields in disclosures, possible data entry errors, or non-reporting of 

CBI. These issues are particularly problematic for data in the ingredients table. In many cases, 

invalid entries were easily excluded during analysis by use of the previously described QA fields 

(e.g., when alphabetic characters occur in numeric fields, such as concentration or CASRN fields). In 

other cases, however, anomalous numbers that still meet QA criteria are seen in the concentration 

fields (e.g., a maximum fluid concentration of 100% by mass in a field for an ingredient observed to 

be used in small quantities in other disclosures). 

Anomalous data that meet QA criteria, while small in number, tend to disproportionately affect 

summary statistics by artificially inflating or decreasing the maximum, minimum, or mean. As an 

example, sodium hydroxide was frequently reported in disclosures (38% of 34,675 disclosures that 

met the primary QA requirements). The median maximum concentration of sodium hydroxide in 

hydraulic fracturing fluid is 0.0092% by mass, but the mean maximum fluid concentration is 

several orders of magnitude greater (0.10%). The mean is influenced by a maximum concentration 

(100%) that is orders of magnitude greater than the 95th percentile (0.077%). The maximum 

concentrations, at times, represent extreme values that may be included in the project database due 

to parsing problems or errors in operator data entry.

To minimize the effects of anomalously high and low concentration values on the summary 

statistics, the median was used to represent the central tendency of the dataset, and the 5th and 

95th percentiles were used to represent the range. Data at the extreme ends of ranges (below the 

5th and above the 95th percentiles) remain in the project database. Calculations such as average or 

variance were not performed on the data. The median and the 5th and 95th percentiles were 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

26

calculated using the default method in the statistical program R (R Core Team, 2013). Tables and 

figures state the number of disclosures (i.e., frequency of reporting) to give additional context to the 

data.

To assess the accuracy of the median as a measure of central tendency and to examine the 

distributions of maximum additive ingredient concentrations in hydraulic fracturing fluids, 

histograms were prepared for the twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients (Appendix 

C). The histogram shapes vary, with some appearing log-normal and others with a more irregular 

pattern or a roughly bimodal distribution.26 The variety in distributions indicates that, for some 

additive ingredients, the median is a more reliable indicator of central tendency than for others. 

Irregular or bimodal distributions may result from use of an additive ingredient in more than one 

additive type (necessitating different amounts) or from variable additive needs depending upon 

factors such as subsurface geochemistry or different operational practices.

If an additive ingredient was listed in more than one additive in a disclosure, the individual 

maximum fluid concentrations were summed to estimate the total maximum fluid concentration for 

that additive ingredient in the disclosure.27 The median and percentile maximum concentrations in 

hydraulic fracturing fluids were calculated from these summed values. Because the concentrations 

of each additive ingredient are the maximum possible concentrations, the resulting statistics on 

hydraulic fracturing fluid concentrations can be considered upper limits. Also, because maximum 

concentrations were reported (and in some cases operators appeared to have entered additive 

concentrations or other values in the fracturing fluid concentration field), the cumulative maximum 

fluid concentrations of an ingredient across all additives in a disclosure sum to greater than 100% 

by mass in some disclosures.

Frequency of reporting for ingredients at the disclosure level was calculated by summing the 

number of disclosures that reported a specific ingredient. Frequency of reporting at the ingredient 

record level was calculated by summing the number of individual ingredient records for a specific 

ingredient. Percentages presented in the tables were calculated based upon the total number of 

disclosures or ingredient records that met the QA criteria for a given analysis and other, queryspecific criteria.

For analyses of total water volumes, cumulative volumes were calculated by adding the total water 

volume reported in the well header table for all disclosures in a chosen unit area. Total water 

volumes were also summarized on a per-disclosure basis by calculating the median and 5th and 

95th percentiles among all disclosures for an area of interest (i.e., state, county, entire dataset). 

Median per-disclosure water volumes for a given area reflect the central tendency of the dataset, 

and 5th and 95th percentiles provide information on the range of the dataset.

 

26 The most frequently reported additive ingredients with non-normal distributions include: 2-butoxyethanol, 

hydrotreated light petroleum distillates, ethanol, naphthalene, potassium hydroxide, quartz, and heavy aromatic 

petroleum solvent naphtha.

27 Fluid concentrations for individual ingredient records must meet the initial QA criteria of maximum fluid concentration 

by mass between 0% and 100% prior to inclusion in the analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

27

3.Results 

The project database includes data extracted from 38,530 disclosures in 20 states that were 

uploaded to FracFocus before March 1, 2013.28 Operators identified 19,908 disclosures as oilproducing wells and 18,622 as gas-producing wells.29 Analyses included well locational data, total 

water volumes, and production type for 38,050 disclosures that met primary QA criteria (19,769 oil 

wells and 18,281 gas wells). Ingredient data were considered for 36,544 disclosures that met 

primary QA criteria (Table 1). 

Operators provided locational information for the wells represented in the disclosures. This 

information enabled comparisons among hydraulic fracturing fluid composition in different regions 

of the country on a state or county basis. Figure 2 shows the geographic distribution of well 

 

28 Nine hydraulic fracturing service companies reported that they hydraulically fractured nearly 25,000 wells in 30 states 

between approximately September 2009 and September 2010 (US EPA, 2012). Assuming that hydraulic fracturing 

continued to occur in the 30 states through March 2013, this suggests that disclosures uploaded to FracFocus and 

analyzed for this study may not encompass all hydraulic fracturing activity that occurred between 2011 and 2013. 

29 Appendix D identifies the operators that submitted disclosures and the states where their wells are located. 

Note: Shale basins are those sedimentary basins associated with oil and gas shale plays (US EIA, 2011a). The shale basins offer 

basic geologic context for the location of a disclosure; disclosures likely represent more oil and gas producing formations than 

only shale formations. Analysis considered 37,888 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique 

combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and with 

confirmed state location. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (642).

Figure 2. Geographic distribution of disclosures in the project database.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

28

locations as reported in the project database. Generally, the locations of wells represented in the 

disclosures are clustered in the northeast (mainly in and around Pennsylvania), the west central 

portion of the country (from North Dakota and Wyoming through Texas and Louisiana), and in 

California. 

Many counties are represented in the project database, but a large number of counties have few 

disclosures in the database. The project database indicates well locations in 406 counties, with a 

range of 1 to 3,016 disclosures per county. Approximately 50% of counties represented in the 

project database have less than 13 disclosures, and 26% of the counties have only one or two 

disclosures. 

Counties with particularly large numbers of disclosures are in California, Colorado, North Dakota,

Pennsylvania, and Texas. This distribution is generally consistent with areas of the country that 

have experienced the greatest growth in oil and gas production since the late 2000’s—namely, the 

Bakken (North Dakota and Montana), the Eagle Ford (Texas), the Haynesville (Texas, Louisiana, and 

Arkansas), the Marcellus (Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, New York, and Maryland), the 

Niobrara (Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas), the Permian Basin (Texas and New Mexico), 

and the Utica (Ohio). These basins and formations accounted for nearly 95% of growth in domestic 

oil production and virtually all of the growth in domestic natural gas production during 2011 and 

2012 (US EIA, 2014).

The geographic distribution of disclosures should be considered when interpreting results of 

analyses presented in this report, because certain parts of the country are more heavily 

represented than others, as shown in Table 6. For example, 48% of all disclosures in the project 

database are located in Texas. Arthur et al. (2014) also noted that almost half the disclosures in 

FracFocus are from Texas. Therefore, the disclosure data associated with Texas influence summary 

analyses of the entire project database toward hydraulic fracturing practices in Texas.

Because operators provided information on production type in FracFocus 1.0, it is possible to use 

production type to add additional context to the data in the project database. Figure 3 identifies the 

production type by county as a proportion of disclosures. Although production in many counties 

was predominantly (>80%) oil or gas, some counties had a mix of oil- and gas-reporting 

disclosures. Disclosures in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia indicated predominantly gas 

production (>80%), whereas disclosures in North Dakota, West Texas, and northern Wyoming 

showed predominantly oil production. Disclosures from many states indicated the presence of both 

oil and gas production wells.

Influence of State Reporting Requirements. By February 2013, six of the 20 states with data in the 

project database had implemented regulations that required well operators to disclose chemicals 

used in hydraulic fracturing fluids to FracFocus: Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, 

Texas, and Utah.30 Three additional states (Louisiana, Montana, and Ohio) required disclosure to 

 

30 Between February 5, 2011, and April 13, 2012, Pennsylvania required reporting to the state. As of April 14, 2012, 

Pennsylvania required reporting to both the state and FracFocus.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

29

either FracFocus or the state, and five states (Arkansas, Michigan, New Mexico, West Virginia, and 

Wyoming) required reporting to the state.

31 Reporting requirements for the six states with 

mandatory reporting to FracFocus became effective during the time period studied in this report. 

The changing nature of reporting requirements may have influenced both the number and 

geographic distribution of disclosures in the project database.

Figure 4 shows the distribution of fracture dates in the project database and indicates whether the 

disclosure was mandatory or voluntary. Mandatory disclosures are defined, in this report, as 

 

31 Appendix E describes reporting requirements for the 20 states discussed in this study.

Table 6. Number and percentage of unique disclosures in the project database with a fracture date between 

January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013.

State Number of disclosures Percentage of disclosures

Texas 18,075 48%

Colorado 4,938 13%

Pennsylvania 2,483 6.5%

North Dakota 2,254 5.9%

Oklahoma 1,909 5.0%

Wyoming 1,457 3.8%

Arkansas 1,450 3.8%

Utah 1,429 3.8%

New Mexico 1,162 3.1 %

Louisiana 1,038 2.7%

California 718 1.9%

West Virginia 277 0.73%

Montana 213 0.56%

Ohio 148 0.39%

Kansas 136 0.36%

Virginia 90 0.24%

Alabama 55 0.14%

Alaska 37 0.097%

Michigan 15 0.039%

Mississippi 4 0.011%

State Uncertain* 162 0.43%

Entire Dataset 38,050 100%

* State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria. 

Note: 480 disclosures that did not meet primary quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

30

disclosures that occurred in one of the six states with mandatory reporting to FracFocus and had a 

fracture date after the state’s regulatory effective date.32 Voluntary disclosures included disclosures 

that fell into one of the following categories: disclosures from states with no reporting 

requirements, states with reporting requirements that did not mandate reporting to FracFocus (i.e., 

states requiring disclosure to the state and states requiring disclosure to either the state or 

FracFocus), or disclosures that had a fracture date prior to a state’s regulatory effective date for 

mandatory reporting to FracFocus. Data presented in Figure 4 suggest that, overall, the number of 

disclosures in the project database increased when mandatory reporting requirements to 

FracFocus were in place.33 The observed increase in the number of disclosures in the project 

 

Note: Shale basins are those sedimentary basins associated with oil and gas shale plays (US EIA, 2011a). The shale basins offer 

basic geologic context for the location of a disclosure; disclosures likely represent more oil and gas producing formations than 

only shale formations. Analysis considered 37,888 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique 

combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and with 

confirmed state location. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (642 disclosures).

Figure 3. Geographic distribution of disclosures by production type.

32 For five of the six states with mandatory reporting requirements to FracFocus, reporting is required for hydraulic 

fracturing operations on or after the regulatory effective date. For Texas, the reporting requirements apply to hydraulic 

fracturing operations conducted at wells with drilling permits issued on or after the regulatory effective date. 

33 There is typically a delay of one to three months between the fracture date and the date of required disclosure 

reporting in states with mandatory reporting to FracFocus (Appendix E). The reporting delay may have led to artificially 

low reporting rates for the months toward the end of the analysis (late 2012 and early 2013). 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

31

database is largely driven by disclosures in Texas, which has the largest percentage of disclosures 

in the project database. In Texas, the number of disclosures per day increased by 89% after the 

regulatory effective date for mandatory reporting to FracFocus.34 A similar trend was found for 

North Dakota, which had an 84% increase in disclosures per day after the regulatory effective date. 

Opposite trends were observed for Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Utah: the number of 

disclosures per day for these states decreased after the regulatory effective date for mandatory 

reporting to FracFocus.35 

 

Note: Analysis considered 37,888 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and with confirmed state 

location. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (642). During the timeframe of 

this study, six states mandated reporting to FracFocus: Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah. 

Vertical lines in the figure indicate when mandatory reporting to FracFocus became effective. Voluntary disclosures included 

disclosures that fell into one of the following categories: disclosures from states with no reporting requirements, states with 

reporting requirements that did not mandate reporting to FracFocus (i.e., states requiring disclosure to the state and states 

requiring disclosure to either the state or FracFocus), or disclosures that had a fracture date prior to a state’s regulatory

effective date for mandatory reporting to FracFocus. A list of state disclosure requirements is provided in Appendix E.

Figure 4. Distribution of fracture dates in the project database.

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

2011 2012 2013

Number of Disclosures

Fracture Date

Voluntary

Mandatory

Texas Colorado

North Dakota

Pennsylvania

Utah Oklahoma

34 The number of disclosures per day was calculated for the time periods before and after a state’s disclosure requirement 

became effective. The number of disclosures with a fracture date between January 1, 2011, and a state's effective date (i.e., 

before regulations) was divided by the number of days in that period. The number of disclosures between the effective 

date and February 28, 2013, (i.e., after regulations) was similarly divided by the number of days in that time period. 

35 The number of disclosures per day decreased by 37% in Colorado, 19% in Oklahoma, 13% in Pennsylvania, and 21% in 

Utah. In Oklahoma, the regulatory effective date for mandatory disclosures to FracFocus was January 1, 2013, which was 

two months prior to the end of the time period of the study. This may account for the decrease in the number of 

disclosures observed for Oklahoma, because well operators had 60 days to report to FracFocus. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

32

Changes in the number of disclosures reported to FracFocus per day or per month may be due to a 

variety of factors, including fluctuations in the number of wells hydraulically fractured and shifts in 

state reporting requirements as new regulations were adopted. Available information indicates that 

the percentage of wells within a state reporting data to FracFocus increases when states have 

mandatory reporting requirements to FracFocus. This may or may not relate to the increases and 

decreases in disclosures per day discussed above, depending on other factors that can influence the 

number of wells hydraulically fracturing, including the price of oil and gas. Hansen et al. (2013) 

compared the number of disclosures in FracFocus from Pennsylvania to the number of wells that 

started drilling in the same year and found that the percentage of wells reporting to FracFocus 

increased from 59% in 2011 to 85% in 2012, which coincides with mandatory reporting 

requirements to FracFocus implemented by Pennsylvania in April 2012. A similar observation was 

made by the Railroad Commission of Texas, which reported that, prior to the passage of reporting 

regulations in Texas, well operators were voluntarily uploading data to FracFocus for about half of 

all wells undergoing hydraulic fracturing in Texas (Railroad Commission of Texas, 2015).

The observations from Hansen et al. (2013) and the Railroad Commission of Texas (2015) suggest 

that the project database is likely incomplete, because the majority of the states with data in the 

project database (14 out of 20) did not have mandatory reporting requirements to FracFocus 

during the study timeframe.36 For the six states that implemented mandatory reporting 

requirements to FracFocus during the time period studied in this report, the earliest regulatory 

effective date was February 1, 2012 (Texas), and the latest date was January 1, 2013 (Oklahoma). 

Because the majority of disclosures in the project database (58%) were reported in states without 

mandatory reporting requirements to FracFocus or had fracture dates prior to regulatory effective 

dates for mandatory reporting to FracFocus, the project database cannot be assumed to be 

complete.

Additive Ingredients

The project database contains 692 unique ingredients reported for base fluids, proppants, and 

additives in hydraulic fracturing fluids.37 Of these, 598 ingredients are associated with valid 

maximum fluid and additive concentrations (individual record values between 0% and 100%). 

Similarly large numbers of chemicals associated with hydraulic fracturing have been estimated 

elsewhere. In a survey of 14 leading oil and gas service companies, Waxman et al. (2011) found that 

the additives used contained 750 chemicals. Colborn et al. (2011) used information from MSDS for 

additives used in the natural gas industry to compile an estimate of 632 chemicals used during 

drilling and hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells.

This section primarily summarizes ingredients reported in hydraulic fracturing fluid additives that 

have purposes other than base fluid or proppant, but also includes ingredients identified as non-

 

36 Eight of the 14 states had or implemented reporting requirements during the study’s timeframe that either required

reporting to the state or allowed reporting to the state or FracFocus. Six states had no reporting requirements during the 

study’s timeframe.

37 Unique ingredients are defined by valid CASRN and chemical name.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

33

aqueous base fluids (Section 3.2.1) and resin coatings for proppants.

38 Analyses focused primarily 

on the ingredients in additives rather than the additives (i.e., the trade name field) because 

chemical information is more useful to assess toxicity, exposure, and therefore potential impacts on 

drinking water resources. Additives may be single-ingredient additives, as suggested by additive 

concentrations of 100%, or they may contain several ingredients. Additives are added to a 

hydraulic fracturing fluid to change the fluid’s properties. For example, some additives in the 

fracturing fluid help manage viscosity for delivery of proppant into the fractures, while other 

additives serve to minimize damage to the formation or maximize flow of oil or gas from the 

formation to the well (Gupta and Valkó, 2007). Additives chosen for hydraulic fracturing fluids can 

vary significantly based on factors such as geologic conditions, well design, and operator or service 

company preferences (Arthur et al., 2014; GWPC and ALL Consulting, 2009; Waxman et al., 2011).

The median number of unique additive ingredients per disclosure was 14 and, summarized by 

state, ranged from nine in Virginia to 21 in New Mexico. Table 7 shows the median number of 

unique additive ingredients per disclosure for the 20 states identified in the project database. The 

median number of additive ingredients per disclosure was 16 for oil disclosures and 12 for gas 

disclosures (not shown in Table 7). The range of additive ingredients per disclosure, however, was 

four to 28 (5th to 95th percentile) for the entire dataset. Apparent differences between oil and gas 

disclosures may not be statistically significant.

3.1.1. Reported Frequency and Fluid Concentrations of Additive Ingredients

The 20 most frequently reported additive ingredients were analyzed separately for oil and gas 

disclosures in the project database. Tables 8 and 9 list the most frequently reported chemicals for 

hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas disclosures, respectively, with median and 5th and 95th 

percentiles for maximum hydraulic fracturing fluid concentrations reported.39 Median as well as 5th 

and 95th percentiles for the maximum concentrations of the chemicals in their respective additives 

are also included in Tables 8 and 9.40 Maximum ingredient concentrations (in hydraulic fracturing 

fluids and additives) are reported as mass percents in Tables 8 and 9 to be consistent with 

concentrations reported by operators to FracFocus 1.0 (Figure 1), although volumes may be more 

useful for understanding potential impacts on drinking water resources from releases of hydraulic 

fracturing fluids or additives.

41 Both maximum additive concentrations and fluid concentrations for 

each additive ingredient may be important to consider when assessing potential impacts on

 

38 Resin coatings are added to proppants and enhance the ability of proppants to keep fractures open; resin coatings do 

not function as proppants themselves.

39 If an additive ingredient appeared more than once in a disclosure (e.g., the same solvent used in multiple additives), 

then the maximum fluid concentrations were added. For example, methanol may be an ingredient in two additives on a 

disclosure with maximum fluid concentrations of 0.1% and 0.05% by mass, respectively. The maximum fluid 

concentration of methanol for this disclosure would be the sum of 0.1% and 0.05%, which is 0.15% by mass. 

40 Maximum concentrations of ingredients in additives reflect the concentration for each individual ingredient record, not 

the sum of the reported concentrations. 

41 Mass percents could be converted to volumes by assuming a density for total water volumes reported in the well header 

table (Figure 1).
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

34

drinking water resources from hydraulic fracturing, because an accidental release of a relatively 

small volume of a concentrated additive being stored on a well pad may have different potential 

impacts than a release of a greater volume of hydraulic fracturing fluid with more dilute additive 

ingredient concentrations.

Additive ingredients listed in Tables 8 and 9 were generally present in hydraulic fracturing fluids in 

low concentrations. The medians of the maximum fluid concentrations of the frequently reported

Table 7. Number of unique additive ingredients per disclosure, summarized by state.

State Number of disclosures

Number of additive ingredients

per disclosure

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Alabama 55 10 10 10

Alaska 20 15 13 16

Arkansas 1,337 10 6 21

California 585 19 10 23

Colorado 4,561 13 5 23

Kansas 97 14 8 17

Louisiana 1,026 15 1 29

Michigan 14 19 10 29

Mississippi 4 14 11 23

Montana 193 16 9 38

New Mexico 1,115 21 7 31

North Dakota 1,989 15 4 33

Ohio 146 17 8 38

Oklahoma 1,810 12 5 30

Pennsylvania 2,419 10 4 18

Texas 16,405 15 4 30

Utah 1,253 17 7 23

Virginia 79 9 7 12

West Virginia 239 12 7 22

Wyoming 1,198 10 5 24

State Uncertain* 130 15 5 27

Entire Dataset 34,675 14 4 28

* State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria. 

Note: Analysis considered 34,675 disclosures and 676,376 ingredient records that met selected quality 

assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of fracture date and API well 

number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; valid CASRN; and valid 

concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (3,855 disclosures) or other, 

query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

35

Table 8. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in oil disclosures, ranked by frequency of occurrence. 

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in

hydraulic fracturing fluid (% by mass)

Maximum concentration in 

additive (% by mass)

Number (%) 

of disclosures Median 5th percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%) 

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Methanol 67-56-1 12,484 (72%) 0.022 0.00064 0.16 26,482 (7.7%) 30 0.39 100

Distillates, 

petroleum, 

hydrotreated light*

64742-47-8 10,566 (61%) 0.087 0.00073 0.39 15,995 (4.6%) 40 0.60 70

Peroxydisulfuric acid, 

diammonium salt 7727-54-0 10,350 (60%) 0.0076 0.00028 0.067 12,723 (3.7%) 100 0.10 100

Ethylene glycol 107-21-1 10,307 (59%) 0.023 0.00086 0.098 12,281 (3.5%) 30 0.50 60

Hydrochloric acid 7647-01-0 10,029 (58%) 0.29 0.013 1.8 11,817 (3.4%) 15 2.9 50

Guar gum 9000-30-0 9,110 (52%) 0.17 0.027 0.43 9,316 (2.7%) 50 1.6 100

Sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 8,609 (50%) 0.010 0.000050 0.075 10,300 (3.0%) 10 0.025 45

Quartz*† 14808-60-7 8,577 (49%) 0.0041 0.000040 12 12,636 (3.7%) 2.0 0.020 93

Water*† 7732-18-5 8,538 (49%) 1.0 0.0050 9.1 23,340 (6.7%) 67 15 97

Isopropanol 67-63-0 8,031 (46%) 0.0063 0.000070 0.22 11,975 (3.5%) 15 0.17 100

Potassium 

hydroxide* 1310-58-3 7,206 (41%) 0.013 0.000010 0.052 8,050 (2.3%) 15 0.15 50

Glutaraldehyde 111-30-8 5,927 (34%) 0.0065 0.00027 0.020 6,211 (1.8%) 15 0.030 50

Propargyl alcohol 107-19-7 5,599 (32%) 0.00022 0.000030 0.0030 6,129 (1.8%) 5.0 0.0029 10

Acetic acid 64-19-7 4,623 (27%) 0.0047 0.000000§ 0.047 5,552 (1.6%) 30 0.82 100

2-Butoxyethanol* 111-76-2 4,022 (23%) 0.0053 0.000000§ 0.17 5,096 (1.5%) 10 0.25 100

Solvent naphtha, 

petroleum, heavy 

arom.*

64742-94-5 3,821 (22%) 0.0060 0.000000§ 0.038 4,129 (1.2%) 5.0 0.00 35

Sodium chloride* 7647-14-5 3,692 (21%) 0.0071 0.000000§ 0.27 4,445 (1.3%) 25 0.0040 100

Ethanol* 64-17-5 3,536 (20%) 0.026 0.000020 0.16 4,178 (1.2%) 45 1.0 60

Citric acid 77-92-9 3,310 (19%) 0.0047 0.00016 0.024 3,491 (1.0%) 60 7.0 100

Phenolic resin 9003-35-4 3,109 (18%) 0.13 0.019 2.0 3,238 (0.94%) 5.0 0.94 20

* Chemical has a non-normal distribution and the median may not represent the central tendency of the dataset as well as the median of a normally distributed dataset.

†

See the text for a discussion of why water and quartz were included in the table.

§ Concentration is less than a millionth of a percentage by mass. 

Note: Analysis considered 17,640 disclosures and 385,013 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination 

of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; valid CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet 

quality assurance criteria (2,268 disclosures) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

36

Table 9. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in gas disclosures, ranked by frequency of occurrence.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in 

hydraulic fracturing fluid (% by mass)

Maximum concentration in 

additive (% by mass)

Number (%) 

of disclosures Median 5th percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%) 

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Hydrochloric acid 7647-01-0 12,351 (73%) 0.078 0.0063 0.67 13,754 (5.3%) 15 2.7 60

Methanol 67-56-1 12,269 (72%) 0.0020 0.000040 0.053 19,074 (7.3%) 30 0.50 90

Distillates, 

petroleum, 

hydrotreated light*

64742-47-8 11,897 (70%) 0.017 0.0021 0.27 14,289 (5.5%) 30 3.1 70

Isopropanol 67-63-0 8,008 (47%) 0.0016 0.000010 0.051 10,326 (3.9%) 30 2.5 60

Water*† 7732-18-5 7,998 (47%) 0.18 0.000090 91 17,690 (6.8%) 63 5 100

Ethanol* 64-17-5 6,325 (37%) 0.0023 0.00012 0.090 7,062 (2.7%) 5.0 1.0 60

Propargyl alcohol 107-19-7 5,811 (34%) 0.000070 0.000010 0.0016 5,963 (2.3%) 10 0.0037 40

Glutaraldehyde 111-30-8 5,635 (33%) 0.0084 0.00091 0.023 5,827 (2.2%) 30 0.18 60

Ethylene glycol 107-21-1 5,493 (32%) 0.0061 0.000080 0.24 7,733 (3.0%) 35 1.0 100

Citric acid 77-92-9 4,832 (28%) 0.0017 0.000050 0.011 4,885 (1.9%) 60 30 100

Sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 4,656 (27%) 0.0036 0.000020 0.088 5,642 (2.2%) 5.0 1.0 60

Peroxydisulfuric acid, 

diammonium salt 7727-54-0 4,618 (27%) 0.0045 0.000050 0.045 6,402 (2.4%) 100 0.26 100

Quartz*† 14808-60-7 3,758 (22%) 0.0024 0.000030 11 4,729 (1.8%) 10 0.20 100

2,2-Dibromo-3-

nitrilopropionamide 10222-01-2 3,668 (22%) 0.0018 0.000070 0.022 3,728 (1.4%) 100 10 100

Sodium chloride* 7647-14-5 3,608 (21%) 0.0091 0.000000§ 0.12 4,176 (1.6%) 30 1.0 40

Guar gum 9000-30-0 3,586 (21%) 0.10 0.00057 0.38 3,702 (1.4%) 60 1.6 100

Acetic acid 64-19-7 3,563 (21%) 0.0025 0.000000§ 0.028 3,778 (1.4%) 50 5.0 90

2-Butoxyethanol* 111-76-2 3,325 (20%) 0.0035 0.000010 0.041 4,186 (1.6%) 10 3.0 40

Naphthalene* 91-20-3 3,294 (19%) 0.0012 0.0000027 0.0050 3,355 (1.3%) 5.0 0.0071 5.0

Solvent naphtha, 

petroleum, heavy 

arom.*

64742-94-5 3,287 (19%) 0.0044 0.000030 0.030 3,750 (1.4%) 30 0.026 30

* Chemical has a non-normal distribution and the median may not represent the central tendency of the dataset as well as the median of a normally distributed dataset.

†

See the text for a discussion of why water and quartz were included in the table.

§ Concentration is less than a millionth of a percentage by mass. 

Note: Analysis considered 17,035 disclosures and 291,363 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination 

of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; valid CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet 

quality assurance criteria (1,587) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

37

additive ingredients, except for water, were less than 0.3% by mass of the fracturing fluid, and the 

95th percentiles for maximum fluid concentration did not exceed 2.0%, except for water and 

quartz. The sum of the maximum fluid concentrations for all additive ingredients in a disclosure, 

excluding proppant and base fluid ingredients, was less than 1% by mass in approximately 80% of 

disclosures. The median value for this sum was 0.43% by mass. The additive ingredient 

concentrations observed in the project database appear to be consistent with published estimates 

that report that the total concentration of all additive ingredients constitutes approximately 1% to 

2% or less of the fracturing fluid (GWPC and ALL Consulting, 2009; Lee et al., 2011).

Eighteen of the 20 most frequently reported additive ingredients were common to hydraulic 

fracturing fluids used in both the oil and gas disclosures analyzed. In particular, methanol, 

hydrochloric acid, and hydrotreated light petroleum distillates were among the additive ingredients 

most frequently reported for both oil and gas disclosures in the project database. Among the entire 

dataset, methanol was reported in 71% of disclosures (24,753 out of 34,675), hydrochloric acid in 

65% (22,380 disclosures), and hydrotreated light petroleum distillates in 65% (22,463 

disclosures). Methanol was associated with additives such as corrosion inhibitors and surfactants, 

while reported purposes for additives that contain hydrochloric acid included serving as a scale 

control agent, controlling iron, serving as a solvent, and a more general designation of “acid” or 

“acidizing” (see Section 3.1.2 for further discussion). Hydrochloric acid is known to be commonly 

used to clean the well perforations (Economides and Baumgartner, 2008).

Methanol, hydrochloric acid, and light petroleum distillates were each reported in 70% or more of 

gas disclosures (Table 9). The next most frequently reported additive ingredient for gas disclosures 

(isopropanol) was reported in less than 50% of gas disclosures. This suggests that methanol, 

hydrochloric acid, and hydrotreated light petroleum distillates were consistently used in hydraulic 

fracturing fluids for gas wells between January 2011 and February 2013. In contrast, additive 

ingredients reported for oil disclosures did not show a similar pattern: seven additive ingredients 

were each reported in 50% or more of oil disclosures, with only one additive ingredient (methanol) 

reported in more than 70% of oil disclosures (Table 8).

Maximum fluid concentrations (medians, 5th and 95th percentiles) for the most frequently 

reported additive ingredients appear to be greater in disclosures for oil wells than gas wells (Tables 

8 and 9). For example, the median of the maximum fluid concentration for hydrochloric acid 

reported for oil disclosures was 0.29% by mass, compared to 0.078% for gas disclosures. The range 

of observed maximum fluid concentrations for hydrochloric acid was also an order of magnitude 

larger in oil disclosures, 0.013% to 1.8% by mass (5th to 95th percentile), compared to gas 

disclosures (0.0063% to 0.67% by mass). Similar to hydrochloric acid, reported maximum fluid 

concentrations for methanol were an order of magnitude greater in oil disclosures, which ranged

from 0.00064% to 0.16% by mass (5th to 95th percentile), than in gas disclosures, which ranged 

from 0.000040% to 0.053% by mass. 

Water and Quartz as Additive Ingredients. Water was commonly reported as an ingredient in 

additives as well as being listed as a base fluid. Quartz, the proppant ingredient most commonly 

reported, was also reported as an ingredient in other additives. Both Tables 8 and 9 list water and 

quartz among the 20 most frequently reported additive ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

38

fluids. Water was reported as an additive ingredient in 49% of oil disclosures and 47% of gas 

disclosures, and quartz was reported as an additive ingredient in 49% and 22% of oil and gas 

disclosures, respectively.

The 95th percentile values observed for maximum fracturing fluid concentrations of water and 

quartz as additive ingredients were larger than expected: 9.1% and 12% by mass in oil disclosures 

and 91% and 11% by mass in gas disclosures, respectively (Tables 8 and 9). The larger values were 

more reflective of maximum fluid concentrations associated with base fluids (Section 3.2) and 

proppants (Section 3.3) and may have been included in the analyses of additive ingredients in oil 

and gas disclosures due to mislabeled or unlabeled purposes in the project database or original PDF 

disclosures.42 For example, 99 ingredient records with valid concentrations contained no purpose 

information for quartz; of these, 75 had trade names that were readily identifiable as proppants. 

Ultimately, the small number of disclosures with unidentified purposes was included to avoid any 

assumptions that may have introduced bias in the results.

Diesel Fuels. To evaluate the use of diesel fuel in hydraulic fracturing fluids, the project database 

was analyzed for any of the following CASRNs:43

 68334-30-5: Fuels, diesel

 68476-30-2: Fuel oil no. 2

 68476-31-3: Fuel oil no. 4

 68476-34-6: Fuels, diesel, no. 2 

 8008-20-6: Navy fuels JP-5; kerosene44 

Three of the five CASRNs were identified in the project database: 68334-30-5, 68476-34-6, and 

8008-20-6. The CASRNs were reported in 302 gas disclosures (1.7% of 17,594 gas disclosures with 

parsed ingredients and valid CASRNs) and 40 oil disclosures (0.22% of 18,363 oil disclosures with 

parsed ingredients and valid CASRNs).45 No disclosures reported use of more than one of these five

CASRNs. 

The most frequently reported diesel fuel CASRN was 8008-20-6, with 281 disclosures, 270 of which 

were for gas disclosures. Fifty-seven disclosures listed 68476-34-6, and four disclosures included 

68334-30-5. The state with the largest number of disclosures listing a diesel fuel CASRN was 

Arkansas, with 173 disclosures (primarily 8008-20-6), followed by New Mexico (54 disclosures), 

Pennsylvania (43 disclosures), and Texas (30 disclosures).

 

42 The database filter applied to the data query excluded additive ingredients associated with base fluids and proppants or 

their synonyms.

43 The five CASRNs were used to define diesel fuels in the Permitting Guidance for Oil and Gas Hydraulic Fracturing 

Activities Using Diesel Fuels: Underground Injection Control Program Guidance #84 (US EPA, 2014b). 

44 Navy fuels JP-5 (CASRN 8008-20-6) is referred to as kerosene in the Permitting Guidance for Oil and Gas Hydraulic 

Fracturing Activities Using Diesel Fuels: Underground Injection Control Program Guidance #84 (US EPA, 2014b).

45 An additional 20 disclosures (19 gas and 1 oil) that did not pass QA criteria reported two of the same three compounds. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

39

3.1.2. Additive Purposes

Operators generally reported purposes for each additive (i.e., trade name) listed on a disclosure 

(Figure 1).46 The purpose describes the function of the additive in the hydraulic fracturing fluid,

rather than the function of individual ingredients in the additive. In the project database, additive 

purposes are assigned to each ingredient in the additive. Thus, regardless of whether a particular 

ingredient serves as an active or inactive ingredient in an additive, its purpose as listed in the 

database will be the same as that reported by the operator for the additive itself. Information 

submitted to FracFocus neither indicates whether chemicals are active or inactive ingredients nor 

the specific purpose a given ingredient serves in the additive.

The project database developed for this study indicated a median number of 10 additives per 

disclosure. Commonly cited estimates of the numbers of additives used for hydraulic fracturing 

suggest three to 12 such additives, serving a variety of purposes (GWPC and ALL Consulting, 2009). 

The number of additives used depends upon the specifics of the well in addition to operator 

practices (Carter et al., 2013). 

Additive ingredients are often associated with multiple purposes in the project database, because 

different additives may have similar ingredients. Table 10 provides a list of the most commonly 

reported purposes for additives that contain the most frequently reported additive ingredients 

listed in Tables 8 and 9. 

Some additive types (as identified by purpose) were associated with large numbers of ingredients. 

For example, in the general category of biocides, there were 197 unique ingredients (as identified 

by CASRNs), and 309 trade names for biocide additives. Similarly, 177 ingredients and 277 trade 

names were found in the project database for gelling agent and gel stabilizer additives. However, 

because of parsing difficulties from variations in reporting styles, some additive purpose 

assignments are likely to be erroneous. Therefore, the data are likely to represent overestimates of

the total numbers of chemicals associated with various purposes. Suspicious ingredient-purpose 

associations generally occur in one or two ingredient records each; therefore, greater frequency of 

reporting for a particular additive purpose and ingredient combination in the project database 

allows for greater confidence that the results reflect actual associations. Nonetheless, the data 

indicate that a number of additives are used for a given purpose and that many of these additives 

contain several ingredients.

3.1.3. Comparing Variability of Additive Ingredients in Selected Counties

The summary of additive ingredients reported for the entire dataset provided in Tables 8 and 9 

may be helpful in determining large-scale similarities across the country. Diversity in additive

ingredients observed in the project database, however, implies that smaller-scale aggregation of the 

 

46 Appendix F contains a list of additive purpose categories identified from the project database and identifies the number 

of disclosures containing additives for each purpose category.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

40

data may provide useful information on the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids at more local 

scales (e.g., states and counties). Five counties were selected to illustrate diversity in additive 

ingredients at small scales. Disclosures used in this analysis are from Andrews County, Texas; 

Table 10. Frequently reported additive ingredients and commonly listed purposes for additives that contain the 

ingredients.

EPA-standardized chemical name CASRN Purposes commonly associated with additives 

containing the ingredients*

2,2-Dibromo-3-

nitrilopropionamide 10222-01-2 Biocide

2-Butoxyethanol† 111-76-2 Surfactant, corrosion inhibitor, non-emulsifier

Acetic acid 64-19-7 Buffer, iron control

Citric acid 77-92-9 Iron control

Distillates, petroleum, 

hydrotreated light†

64742-47-8 Friction reducer, gelling agent, crosslinker

Ethanol 64-17-5 Surfactant, biocide

Ethylene glycol 107-21-1

Crosslinker, scale inhibitor, corrosion inhibitor, 

friction reducer

Glutaraldehyde 111-30-8 Biocide

Guar gum 9000-30-0 Gelling agent

Hydrochloric acid 7647-01-0

Acidizer, solvent, scale dissolver, perforation 

breakdown

Isopropanol 67-63-0 Corrosion inhibitor, non-emulsifier, surfactant

Methanol 67-56-1

Corrosion inhibitor, surfactant, non-emulsifier, scale 

inhibitor, biocide, crosslinker

Naphthalene† 91-20-3 Surfactant, non-emulsifier, corrosion inhibitor

Peroxydisulfuric acid, 

diammonium salt 7727-54-0 Gel breaker

Phenolic resin 9003-35-4 Proppant (resin coating)

Potassium hydroxide* 1310-58-3 Crosslinker, buffer

Propargyl alcohol 107-19-7 Corrosion inhibitor

Quartz†§ 14808-60-7

Breaker, gelling agent, scale inhibitor, crosslinker, 

biocide, corrosion inhibitor, viscosifier

Sodium chloride† 7647-14-5

Breaker, friction reducer, scale inhibitor, clay 

control, biocide

Sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 Crosslinker, biocide, buffer, scale inhibitor

Solvent naphtha, petroleum, 

heavy arom.†

64742-94-5

Surfactant, non-emulsifier, inhibitor, corrosion 

inhibitor

Water†§ 7732-18-5

Acid, biocide, clay control, scale inhibitor, iron 

control, breaker, crosslinker, buffer, surfactant, 

friction reducer

* Definitions of additive purposes are included in the Glossary.

† Chemical has a non-normal distribution and the median may not represent the central tendency of the dataset as well 

as the median of a normally distributed dataset.

§

See Section 3.1.1 for a discussion of why water and quartz were included in the table.

Note: Analysis considered 34,675 disclosures and 676,376 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, 

including: completely parsed; unique combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 

1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; valid CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance 

criteria (3,855 disclosures) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

41

Bradford County, Pennsylvania; Dunn County, North Dakota; Garfield County, Colorado; and Kern 

County, California (Table 11). The five counties displayed a range of geography, geology, and 

production type, and the number of disclosures for each of these counties exceeded the 90th 

percentile for the entire dataset (288 disclosures per county). The relatively large number of 

disclosures per county illustrated the extent of oil and gas development in these areas during the 

study time period, and allowed selection of a dataset large enough to increase confidence in the 

results of the analysis.

Generally, comparisons of additive ingredients across the five counties showed less similarity than 

the comparison of additive ingredients between each county and the entire dataset. The 20 most 

frequently reported additive ingredients for each county (Appendix G) were compared with the 

other selected counties and with the entire dataset.47 The number of frequently reported additive 

ingredients in common between datasets was expressed as a percentage of the total number of 

frequently reported additive ingredients using the following equation:

Percentage of Similarity = 

Number of additive ingredients in common between County A and County B

Average number of additive ingredients in Counties A and B

The denominator for the above equation was 20 unless two additive ingredients were tied in rank 

in one of the counties. The percentage of similarity in additive ingredients between pairs of 

counties ranged from 15% to 65%, as shown in Table 12. Overlap with the twenty most frequently 

reported additive ingredients for the entire dataset ranged from 35% to 85%. This suggests a 

degree of variability as would be expected given factors such as production type, geology, and 

operator preference. However, the 60% to 85% similarity with the entire dataset shown by four of 

the counties (excluding Kern County) also suggests that certain additive ingredients were

commonly used in hydraulic fracturing fluids in disparate parts of the country. Similarity in additive 

ingredients across counties is consistent with the notion that similar factors influence the 

composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids. Similarity may also be influenced by economics and the 

availability of additives at local or regional scales. Patterns in additive ingredients could be found 

 

47 Some additive ingredients may overlap between two counties, but fall below the twenty most frequently reported 

chemicals on a list.

Table 11. Counties selected to illustrate diversity in additive ingredients at small scales.

County, State Sedimentary 

basin*

Production 

type

Number of 

disclosures

Number of 

operators 

Andrews County, Texas Permian 98% oil 1,180 39

Bradford County, 

Pennsylvania Appalachian 100% gas 513 6

Dunn County, North Dakota Williston 100% oil 334 18

Garfield County, Colorado Uinta-Piceance 99% gas 1,362 9

Kern County, California San Joaquin 100% oil 677 6

* Sedimentary basins associated with oil and gas shale plays (US EIA, 2011a). 

Note: Analysis considered 4,066 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique 

combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; 

with confirmed state location; and with confirmed county location. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance 

criteria (142 disclosures) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

42

by performing spatial analysis on formulations or selected additive ingredients of interest, although 

these types of analyses were not conducted in this study. Among the five counties, Kern County was 

notably less similar to the other counties and to the entire dataset than the other four counties. 

Fewer disclosures from Kern County used surfactants than the other two oil-producing counties. 

Disclosures from Kern County also showed less use of friction reducers and non-emulsifiers. 

The percentage of similarity was found to be greater between the selected counties and their states 

(73% to 95% similarity; data not shown) than between the selected counties and the entire dataset. 

This suggests that additive ingredient information compiled at the state level may provide some 

useful insights into the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids at the county level.

Base Fluids

Base fluids are the fluids into which additives and proppants are mixed to create the fracturing 

fluid. More than 93% of disclosures in the project database appear to use water as a base fluid.48,49

The median maximum reported concentration of water in hydraulic fracturing fluid was 88% by 

mass, with a range of 68% to 99% (5th and 95th percentile), suggesting its primary use as a base 

fluid.50

 

48 In this report, the term “water use” refers to the volume of water used for a hydraulic fracturing job as reported by 

operators in the total water volume field of the well header table of a FracFocus disclosure; it does not refer to 

withdrawals from a water source. The determination of water used as a base fluid was based on disclosures that include 

at least one water ingredient record with a maximum fluid concentration greater than or equal to 1% by mass (Section 

2.3.1).

49 Disclosures that met criteria for unique combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between

January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; completely parsed; with a valid maximum fracturing fluid concentration greater 

than or equal to 1% by mass; and having “water” as a term in the trade name or chemical name field.

50 The total mass of fracturing fluid includes the masses of base fluids, additives, and proppants. Therefore, a fracturing 

fluid with 88% by mass of water would be composed of approximately 12% proppant and additive ingredients by mass.

Table 12. Comparison of twenty most frequently reported chemicals among selected counties.

County, State

Percentage of similarity (%)

Andrews, TX* Dunn, ND* Kern, CA* Bradford, PA† Garfield, CO†

Andrews, TX* 49% 35% 65% 45%

Dunn, ND* 49% 39% 34% 39%

Kern, CA* 35% 39% 20% 15%

Bradford, PA† 65% 34% 20% 60%

Garfield, CO† 45% 39% 15% 60%

Entire Dataset 85% 63% 35% 65% 60%

* >98% of disclosures in county specify oil production

† >99% of disclosures in county specify gas production

Note: Analysis considered 3,622 disclosures and 61,502 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance 

criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date 

between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; with confirmed state location; with confirmed county location; 

valid CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (586 disclosures) or 

other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

43

Data from the project database were compiled to assess volumes and sources of water used as base 

fluids, as well as the frequency with which gases and hydrocarbons were used to either augment 

water-based fracturing fluids or to provide non-aqueous alternative fracturing fluids.51

3.2.1. Use of Non-Aqueous Fluids in Base Fluids

Non-aqueous fluids, such as gases and hydrocarbons, were reported to be used alone or blended 

with water to form a base fluid in 761 disclosures.

52 More than 96% of these disclosures reported a 

base fluid consisting of a blend of non-aqueous fluids and water. Table 13 describes the frequency 

of reporting and maximum concentrations for non-aqueous base fluid ingredients, and Table 14 

shows the numbers of disclosures that reported non-aqueous base fluid ingredients by state.53 Nonaqueous base fluid ingredients were most frequently reported in disclosures from Colorado, New 

Mexico, and Texas. 

Liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide were the most frequently observed non-aqueous ingredients 

combined with water to form the base fluid. These gas-water blends are used by operators to 

generate foams and energized fluids.54 Using gas in base fluids reduces water use and thus reduces 

contact between water and the formation, making these fluid systems useful in water-sensitive 

formations. Energized fracturing fluids also promote flowback by expanding when the well is 

produced (Friehauf and Sharma, 2009; Gupta and Hlidek, 2010; Gupta et al., 1997). 

Liquid nitrogen was reported in 643 (84%) of the disclosures identifying non-aqueous fluid 

ingredients, with a median maximum fluid concentration of 16% by mass (Table 13). The greatest 

reported use of liquid nitrogen was in New Mexico, with 296 disclosures (Table 14). Among the 

disclosures that reported liquid nitrogen as a base fluid ingredient, 519 of the 643 were for gasproducing wells and 124 were for oil-producing wells. The median maximum fluid concentration of 

water in disclosures that reported liquid nitrogen in addition to water was 59% by mass. Among 

disclosures that listed liquid nitrogen and water as base fluid ingredients, the median volume of 

water reported was approximately 77,000 gallons.

Carbon dioxide was listed in 83 disclosures identifying non-aqueous base fluid ingredients (11%), 

with a median maximum fluid concentration of 32% by mass (Table 13). Of the 83 disclosures that 

listed carbon dioxide as a base fluid ingredient, 73 were for gas-producing wells. The greatest

 

51 The analysis does not account for brines formulated by the operator through the addition of salts (e.g., potassium 

chloride or sodium chloride) to water. 

52 2.2% of 34,675 unique disclosures that met the date criterion and that had parsed ingredients with valid CASRNs and 

valid maximum concentrations. Disclosures reporting gas or hydrocarbon ingredients in their base fluids were identified 

through the presence of terms determined to be synonymous with “base fluid” in the purpose field of an additive and 

through the presence in the ingredient field of certain chemical names identified through preliminary queries. Based on a 

preliminary analysis, ingredients that made up less than 1% by mass of the hydraulic fracturing fluid were excluded from 

this analysis (Section 2.3.1). To determine water use in these disclosures, all disclosures identifying the use of a nonaqueous fluid were searched for the presence of “water” in the trade name field or in the chemical name field, specifying a 

maximum fluid concentration greater than or equal to 1% by mass.

53 Because hydrocarbons were generally reported in combinations, one disclosure may be represented in more than one 

row of Table 7, and values in the columns cannot be totaled.

54 Foams consist of gas volumes greater than 53% by volume (generally 65% to 80% gas); energized fluids contain less 

than 53% gas by volume, with typical volumes about 20% to 30% gas (Gupta and Valkó, 2007; Montgomery, 2013).
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

44

Table 13. Non-aqueous ingredients reported in base fluids.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in

hydraulic fracturing fluid (% by mass)

Maximum concentration in

additive (% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5thpercentile

95th

percentile

Number (%)

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th

percentile

95th

percentile

Nitrogen, liquid 7727-37-9 643 (84%) 16 3.8 30 643 (80%) 100 25 100

Carbon dioxide 124-38-9 83 (11%) 32 11 46 83 (10%) 100 100 100

Petroleum distillates 8002-05-9 18 (2.4%) 46 29 67 18 (2.2%) 100 100 100

Propane 74-98-6 15 (2.0%) 63 1.6 79 16 (2.0%) 100 2.0 100

Isobutane 75-28-5 12 (1.6%) 29 8.0 52 13 (1.6%) 50 10 100

Butane 106-97-8 10 (1.3%) 2.2 1.5 59 11 (1.4%) 80 36 100

Hexane 110-54-3 4 (0.53%) 14 11 15 4 (0.50%) 20 18 20

Pentane 109-66-0 4 (0.53%) 9.8 5.8 14 4 (0.50%) 13 10 19

Butene 25167-67-3 3 (0.39%) 25 8.1 49 3 (0.37%) 65 34 65

1-Propene 115-07-1 2 (0.26%) 3.0 1.2 4.8 2 (0.25%) 5.0 5.0 5.0

2-Methylbutane 78-78-4 2 (0.26%) 16 14 18 2 (0.25%) 25 25 25

Benzene 71-43-2 2 (0.26%) 3.3 2.8 3.7 2 (0.25%) 5.0 5.0 5.0

Ethane 74-84-0 2 (0.26%) 2.3 1.6 3.1 3 (0.37%) 2.0 2.0 9.2

Ethylene 74-85-1 1 (0.13%) 2.1 2.1 2.1 1 (0.12%) 10 10 10

Methane 74-82-8 1 (0.13%) 2.1 2.1 2.1 1 (0.12%) 10 10 10

White mineral oil, 

petroleum 8042-47-5 1 (0.13%) 12 12 12 1 (0.12%) 100 100 100

Note: Analysis considered 34,675 disclosures and 676,376 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique 

combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; valid CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that 

did not meet quality assurance criteria (3,855) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

45

Table 14. Use of non-aqueous ingredients in base fluids, summarized by state.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name

Number of disclosures

CO LA MI ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WY State 

Uncertain* Total

Nitrogen, liquid 150 2 296 15 5 146 18 4 6 1 643

Carbon dioxide 38 1 1 3 1 1 5 15 18 83

Petroleum distillates 18 18

Propane 6 9 15

Isobutane 1 11 12

Butane 5 5 10

Hexane 4 4

Pentane 4 4

Butene 3 3

1-Propene 2 2

2-Methylbutane 2 2

Benzene 2 2

Ethane 2 2

Ethylene 1 1

Methane 1 1

White mineral oil, 

petroleum 1 1

* State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria. 

Note: Analysis considered 34,675 disclosures and 676,376 ingredients that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination 

of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; valid CASRN, and valid chemical concentrations. Disclosures that 

did not meet quality assurance criteria (3,855 disclosures) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

46

reported use of carbon dioxide was in Colorado, with 38 disclosures (Table 14). The median 

maximum fluid concentration of water in disclosures that reported carbon dioxide in addition to 

water was 61% by mass. Among disclosures that listed carbon dioxide and water as base fluid 

ingredients, the median volume of water reported was approximately 40,000 gallons. 

Hydrocarbons can be used with water to create emulsions to control fluid loss in low-permeability 

gas-producing formations (Penny, 1982). Petroleum distillates and water were reported as the base 

fluid in 17 disclosures located in Texas (median maximum fluid concentrations of 44% by mass for 

petroleum distillates and 32% by mass for water). Among disclosures that listed petroleum 

distillates and water as base fluid ingredients, the median volume of water reported was 

approximately 11,000 gallons. 

Although most hydraulic fracturing fluids described in the project database indicated water as all or 

part of the base fluid, a small number of disclosures reported entirely non-aqueous bas fluids. Nonaqueous base fluids, including those based on hydrocarbons or alcohols, may be used in watersensitive formations or in oil-wet formations (DeVine et al., 2003; Gupta et al., 1997; Rae and Di 

Lullo, 1996). Hydrocarbon mixtures were reported as base fluids in 18 disclosures (2.4% of 761 

disclosures that reported non-aqueous bas fluids); 12 disclosures were reported in Texas, and six 

disclosures were reported in Colorado. Eleven disclosures in Texas reported oil production, and the 

six disclosures in Colorado and one from Texas reported gas production. Among disclosures 

reporting hydrocarbon mixtures as base fluids, propane was identified as the primary base fluid 

ingredient in 10 disclosures, with a median maximum fluid concentration of 64% by mass.55 Other 

disclosures reported other mixtures of the hydrocarbons listed in Table 13. The total water volume 

field was blank on the 18 disclosures that reported only hydrocarbons as base fluids. 

3.2.2. Cumulative Total Water Volumes 

Data from the project database indicate that nearly 92 billion gallons of water were used for 

hydraulic fracturing throughout the time period studied: 36 billion gallons in 2011, 52 billion 

gallons in 2012, and 3.8 billion gallons in the first two months of 2013. Cumulative total water 

volumes were calculated for each county with disclosures in the project database and are shown in 

Figure 5.56 Counties with the greatest reported cumulative total water volumes are clustered in 

areas of northeastern Pennsylvania, northern Colorado, western North Dakota, and parts of Texas. 

Cumulative total water volumes should be considered lower limit estimates of water use for 

hydraulic fracturing within a county, as the information in the project database from counties in a 

state with voluntary reporting may be incomplete. The estimates of cumulative total water volumes 

may be useful, when paired with local information on water availability and total water use, for 

identifying areas of the country that may be vulnerable to water stress resulting from hydraulic 

fracturing. 

 

55 Butanes were also reported as base fluids in these 10 disclosures, with a median maximum fluid concentration of 3.4% 

by mass. One disclosures also reported 1-propene, with a maximum fluid concentration of 4.8% by mass. 

56 Appendix H lists cumulative total water volumes for each county as well as per-disclosure water volumes. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

47

Given the common use of water in hydraulic fracturing fluids, it is expected that the greatest 

cumulative total water volumes would be found in counties with a large number of disclosures in 

the project database (Figure 2).57 For example, nine of the 20 counties with the largest cumulative 

total water volumes are also in counties with a large number of disclosures. Cumulative total water 

volumes for these nine counties ranged from 1.3 billion gallons in Gonzales County (344 

disclosures) to 3.9 billion gallons in Dimmit County (715 disclosures). For context, Appendix H, 

shows that nearly half of the 406 counties represented in the project database have 10 or fewer 

disclosures. 

State-level cumulative total water volumes were typically greatest in states with a large number of 

disclosures, as shown in Table 15. For example, Texas had both the greatest reported cumulative 

total water volume (approximately 45 billion gallons) and the largest number of disclosures 

 

Note: Shale basins are those sedimentary basins associated with oil and gas shale plays (US EIA, 2011a). The shale basins offer 

basic geologic context for the location of a disclosure; well disclosures likely represent more oil and gas producing formations

than only shale formations. Analysis considered 37,888 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including:

unique combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and 

with confirmed state location. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (642).

Figure 5. Cumulative total water volumes, summarized by county.

57 The relationship between the number of disclosures and reported water volumes is shown further in Appendix H, 

which presents, for each county, the number of unique disclosures meeting the date and water volume criteria, the 

cumulative water use, and water volumes per disclosure (median, 5th and 95th percentiles). 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

48

(17,934; 47% of disclosures that met the analysis criteria). Pennsylvania had the third largest 

number of disclosures (2,467; 6.5% of disclosures) and the second largest cumulative total water 

volume (approximately 11 billion gallons). The cumulative total water volume was the smallest in 

Alabama (approximately 2.1 million gallons, 55 disclosures). 

Cumulative total water volumes for a few states (e.g., Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and 

West Virginia) were larger than what might be expected based solely on the numbers of disclosures

included in the project database. This is consistent with relatively large volumes of water reported 

per disclosure in these states, as reflected by median, 5th percentile, and 95th percentile values 

Table 15. Total water volumes, summarized by state.

State Number of 

disclosures

Cumulative

total water 

volume 

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure (gallons)

Median 5th 

percentile 

95th 

percentile 

Texas 17,934 44,580,000,000 1,413,287 26,006 7,407,116

Pennsylvania 2,467 10,600,000,000 4,184,936 1,092,739 7,475,493

Arkansas 1,444 7,500,000,000 5,277,890 2,681,465 7,484,091

Oklahoma 1,898 6,666,000,000 2,578,947 114,870 8,288,041

Colorado 4,924 6,652,000,000 463,659 103,906 4,327,068

Louisiana 1,031 5,408,000,000 5,148,696 277,540 8,942,170

North Dakota 2,235 4,789,000,000 2,019,513 557,740 3,685,402

West Virginia 277 1,394,000,000 5,012,238 2,500,529 7,889,759

Wyoming 1,449 1,109,000,000 306,246 5,503 3,110,272

New Mexico 1,159 787,700,000 172,452 22,130 2,851,323

Ohio 146 614,200,000 3,887,499 2,526,398 7,442,826

Utah 1,421 534,400,000 303,424 35,070 1,056,654

Montana 213 337,500,000 1,469,839 216,578 3,197,594

Kansas 134 145,200,000 1,421,591 9,866 2,448,300

California 718 94,440,000 77,154 18,684 356,453

Michigan 15 55,100,000 33,306 15,722 15,127,125

Mississippi 4 35,140,000 9,173,624 4,322,108 12,701,054

Alaska 37 13,150,000 88,448 36,437 435,638

Virginia 77 3,021,000 33,474 13,322 96,684

Alabama 55 2,065,000 37,691 23,602 51,651

State Uncertain* 158 488,100,000 2,770,090 80,067 6,945,958

Entire Dataset 37,796 91,810,000,000 1,508,724 29,526 7,196,702

* State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria. 

Note: Analysis considered 37,796 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique combination 

of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and criteria for 

water volumes. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (734).
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

49

(Table 15; see Section 3.2.3 for more discussion). The high per-disclosure total water volumes may 

reflect well length, geologic characteristics, and operator practices in these areas.

3.2.3. Total Water Volumes per Disclosure

Some factors that influence water volumes used for hydraulic fracturing include formation type, 

total measured depth of the well, length of the production interval of the well (which can be 

horizontal), fracturing fluid properties, and the design of the fracturing job (Nicot and Scanlon, 

2012). Hydraulic fracturing is sometimes referred to as low-volume or high-volume depending on 

the relative amount of fluid used to fracture the target rock formation. Low-volume hydraulic 

fracturing, typically conducted in vertical wells, can require between 20,000 and 80,000 gallons of 

water or other fluid (NYSDEC, 1992). Hydraulic fracturing of a coalbed methane reservoir may 

require 50,000 to 350,000 gallons per well (Holditch, 1993; Jeu et al., 1988; Palmer et al., 1991; 

Palmer et al., 1993). 

High-volume hydraulic fracturing for wells located in low permeability formations such as shales 

can require millions of gallons of water (GWPC and ALL Consulting, 2009; Lee et al., 2011; Nicot and 

Scanlon, 2012) and often include long horizontal well segments. Water volumes in the Marcellus 

Shale, for example, have been reported to range from 3 to more than 5 million gallons per well 

(Aminto and Olson, 2012). Vengosh et al. (2014) report that up to 13 million gallons of water is 

needed per well for hydraulic fracturing of unconventional reservoirs. The New York State 

Department of Environmental Conservation (2011) estimates that a multi-stage fracturing 

operation for a well with a 4,000-foot long lateral (the horizontal segment of the well) would 

typically involve between 8 and 13 stages and use 300,000 to 600,000 gallons of water per stage,

for a total of 2.4 to 7.8 million gallons per well. 

The project database provides a snapshot of total water volumes reported on a per-disclosure basis, 

although interpretation is somewhat limited by lack of information on the total measured depth of 

the well (which can be greater than the true vertical depth) and the length of the production 

interval.58 Figure 6 shows the median total water volume per disclosure for each county in the 

project database. The median total water volume per disclosure in the project database was 

approximately 1.5 million gallons, with a range of reported total water volumes of nearly 30,000 

gallons to almost 7.2 million gallons (5th to 95th percentile). The wide range likely reflects 

hydraulic fracturing practices that include low-volume stimulation of vertical wells, high-volume 

fracturing of horizontal wells in shales and tight sands, and fracturing in coalbed methane plays. 

Gas disclosures reported a median total water volume of approximately 2.9 million gallons, and oil 

disclosures reported a median total water volume of approximately 1.1 million gallons. Total water 

volumes reported in gas disclosures ranged from approximately 91,000 gallons to approximately 

7.8 million gallons (5th to 95th percentile). Total water volumes reported in oil disclosures ranged 

from approximately 18,000 gallons to approximately 6.1 million (5th to 95th percentile). 

 

58 FracFocus 1.0 disclosures do not indicate whether a well is vertical or horizontal or the length of the production 

interval.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

50

Assessed geographically in Table 15, the median total water volume per disclosure was highest for 

Mississippi (nearly 9.2 million gallons; 4 disclosures) and lowest for Michigan (approximately 

33,000 gallons; 15 disclosures). However, Michigan also had the highest 95th percentile value of 

any state (more than 15 million gallons), suggesting a wide range of water volumes used within that 

state. 

At the county level, median total water volumes per disclosure ranged from less than 5,000 gallons 

to more than 14 million gallons (Appendix H). Counties that appeared to have relatively high 

median per-disclosure total water volumes are clustered in a few parts of the country: 

Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio; parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana; and North Dakota 

(Figure 6). 

In assessing the range of total water volumes, it is important to consider the median in relation to 

the 5th and 95th percentiles, which indicate variability in total water volumes reported in a 

particular area. Within-state variability, as measured by the range (5th to 95th percentile) of total 

water volumes reported per disclosures in the state, spans three orders of magnitude in some cases 

Note: Shale basins are those sedimentary basins associated with oil and gas shale plays (US EIA, 2011a). The shale basins offer 

basic geologic context for the location of a disclosure; well disclosures likely represent more oil and gas producing formations 

than only shale formations. Analysis considered 37,888 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: 

unique combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and 

with confirmed state location. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (642).

Figure 6. Median total water volumes per disclosure, summarized by county.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

51

(Table 15), suggesting a range of operating practices, well lengths, or target formation geologies in 

an area. Figure 7 shows the geographic distribution of variability in total water volumes as 

indicated by the difference between the 5th and 95th percentiles. The figure shows areas of large 

variability in total water volumes reported in parts of Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

3.2.4. Comparing Variability of Total Water Volumes in Selected Counties

Variability in reported total water volumes was examined by selecting and summarizing data on 

cumulative and per-disclosure total water volumes from several counties that represented a variety 

of geographic settings and were anticipated to represent a variety of fracturing operations.

59

Because cumulative total water volumes are strongly influenced by the number of wells in a 

location (Section 3.2.2), counties with a similar number of disclosures were chosen to minimize one 

factor contributing to variability in cumulative total water volumes. The counties chosen for 

comparison had 254 to 331 disclosures per county (around the 90th percentile for number of 

 

59 The comparisons of total water volumes do not attempt to differentiate between vertical and directional or horizontal 

wells, because this information was not readily available in the FracFocus 1.0 disclosures. 

Note: Shale basins are those sedimentary basins associated with oil and gas shale plays (US EIA, 2011a). The shale basins offer 

basic geologic context for the location of a disclosure; well disclosures likely represent more oil and gas producing formations 

than only shale formations. Analysis considered 37,888 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: 

unique combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and 

with confirmed state location. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (642).

Figure 7. Variability in reported total water volumes per disclosure, as measured by the difference between the 

5th and 95th percentiles.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

52

disclosures per county) to increase the confidence and robustness in the observed results for both 

cumulative and per-disclosure total water volumes. Table 16 summarizes total water volume 

information from the disclosures for the selected counties. 

Data from the selected counties indicated a large variability in total water volumes reported for 

hydraulic fracturing. Cumulative total water volumes for the selected counties ranged from 

approximately 9.8 million gallons to almost 1.8 billion gallons. Median per-disclosure total water 

volumes ranged from 16,000 gallons to nearly 6.3 million gallons. The lowest and highest values for 

median total water volumes were both within Texas (Milam and Wheeler counties, respectively). 

Disclosures from counties in which gas production was predominant (>80% of disclosures) 

appeared to have greater cumulative and median per-disclosure total water volumes than

disclosures from counties in which oil production was predominant (Table 16). Of the nine counties 

in Table 16 with the greatest per-disclosure and cumulative total water volumes, seven were 

predominantly gas-producing, and two had slightly more gas production than oil production 

(between 60% and 80% of disclosures). The median total water volume for the nine counties was

1.7 to 3.1 times larger than the greatest median per-disclosure total water volume reported for a 

predominantly oil-producing county (approximately 2.0 million gallons for Dunn County, North 

Dakota).

Conversely, eight of the 10 counties in Table 16 with the lowest per-disclosure and cumulative total 

water volumes were predominantly oil-producing. The data suggest that total water volumes were 

generally lower in counties where oil production was predominant. The observed difference in total 

water volume by production type may be due to a number of factors, including well depths, the 

length of the fractured segment of the well, the formation types that are represented, and other 

aspects of the fracturing design (Nicot and Scanlon, 2012).

The majority of the counties in Table 16 are located in Texas, providing an opportunity for withinstate comparisons of total water volumes. Texas, generally speaking, is a region with a mature oil 

and gas industry, a variety of geologic settings, and both conventional and unconventional 

production. Total water volumes for the counties in Texas appeared to vary, in part, according to 

the predominant production type and geologic setting.60 For example, median per-disclosure total 

water volumes in Denton, Wise, and Johnson counties (99% to 100% natural gas production), 

located in the Fort Worth Basin in central Texas, ranged from approximately 1.8 to nearly 4.0 

million gallons. This is two to four times greater than the median per-disclosure total water 

volumes reported for disclosures in Howard and Irion counties (about 900,000 gallons each), which 

were predominantly oil-producing and located in the Permian Basin in western Texas. However, 

there is also considerable variability within the Permian Basin: median per-disclosure total water 

volumes from disclosures in Mitchell and Gaines counties (approximately 30,000 and 79,000 

gallons, respectively) ranged from 11 to almost 30 times lower than Howard and Irion counties. 

 

60 The counties were grouped by geologic basin, and the EPA assumed that counties within the same basin may have 

similar influences on operations due to comparable geology, geography, infrastructure, and policies.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

53

Table 16. Total water volumes for selected counties in approximately the 90th percentile of disclosures.

State County Number of 

disclosures

Percent oil 

disclosures

Percent gas 

disclosures

Cumulative

total water 

volume 

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure (gallons)

Median 5th percentile 95th percentile

Texas Wheeler 283 35% 65% 1,774,000,000 6,292,608 879,360 12,398,544

Arkansas White 309 0.00% 100% 1,749,000,000 5,782,854 3,655,427 7,416,763

Arkansas Conway 302 0.00% 100% 1,596,000,000 5,266,774 2,919,365 7,957,921

Pennsylvania Susquehanna 327 0.00% 100% 1,546,000,000 4,798,290 940,909 7,816,150

Arkansas Cleburne 263 0.00% 100% 1,489,000,000 5,974,108 3,401,011 7,538,336

Texas Johnson 289 0.00% 100% 1,191,000,000 3,969,422 1,754,012 7,202,405

Texas Wise 291 0.34% 100% 1,157,000,000 3,875,046 918,692 7,969,196

Pennsylvania Tioga 286 0.00% 100% 1,133,000,000 3,598,474 2,285,636 6,572,202

Texas DeWitt 320 28% 72% 1,104,000,000 3,426,088 2,028,110 4,790,741

Texas Irion 284 99% 0.70% 945,600,000 895,468 45,494 11,729,639

Texas Denton 263 0.76% 99% 934,700,000 1,836,744 1,014,405 9,008,399

North Dakota Dunn 331 100% 0.00% 630,100,000 2,017,621 409,803 3,361,183

Texas Reeves 263 100% 0.38% 352,600,000 1,081,442 104,447 3,865,365

New Mexico Lea 286 98% 1.7% 244,300,000 183,645 53,235 3,730,169

Texas Howard 286 100% 0.00% 219,500,000 895,986 26,018 1,523,373

Wyoming Sweetwater 321 1.6% 98% 84,850,000 229,974 79,090 435,011

Texas Gaines 298 100% 0.00% 44,090,000 79,411 18,330 269,241

Texas Mitchell 278 100% 0.36% 22,020,000 30,402 14,154 88,003

Texas Milam 254 100% 0.00% 9,844,000 16,000 16,000 18,900

All 90th Percentile Counties 5,534 45% 55% 16,230,000,000 2,503,683 16,000 7,471,633

Entire Dataset 37,796 52% 48% 91,810,000,000 1,508,724 29,526 7,196,702

Note: Analysis considered 37,796 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date 

between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and criteria for water volumes. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (734 

disclosures).
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

54

When comparing the ranges (5th to 95th percentile) of per-disclosure total water volumes reported 

for each county, those reported in Mitchell, Gaines, and Milam counties (100% oil 

disclosures) appeared to be smaller than those reported in Wheeler, Johnson, Wise, DeWitt, and 

Denton counties (65% to 100% gas disclosures). 

Within the Texas counties in Table 16, the range of total water volumes reported per disclosure (as 

represented by the 5th and 95th percentiles) differed by as much as 11 million gallons, as observed 

in Irion County, and as little as 2,900 gallons (Milam County). The large amount of variability in 

some counties suggests that wells located within a relatively short surface distance of each other 

used different volumes of water for hydraulic fracturing. Use of non-aqueous ingredients, such as 

gases or hydrocarbons, in base fluids, which could decrease the total volume of water needed in 

fracturing fluids, did not appear to contribute appreciably to the variability in counties in Texas; 

liquid nitrogen was reported in 59 disclosures in Mitchell County and 10 disclosures in Howard 

County. 

A wide range of reported total water volumes within a county may be a result of hydraulic 

fracturing in multiple formations within the county and the influence of specific formation 

conditions on operations. The TVD of wells in Irion and Milam counties was assessed as an 

indicator of the number of formations that may be hydraulically fractured in the area.61 A relatively 

small range of depths might indicate that one formation was being developed for production, 

whereas clusters of ranges or a broad range of depths might indicate concurrent development in 

multiple formations in an area. The TVDs in Milam County disclosures were generally shallower 

than Irion County disclosures, with 99% of disclosures in Milam County ranging from 650 to 998 

feet (median 940 feet) below surface.62 In Irion County, TVDs were deeper and ranged (minimum to 

maximum) from 3,766 to 9,184 feet (median 7,038 feet) below surface. The relatively narrow range 

of TVDs reported in disclosures from Milam County, in combination with the relatively narrow 

range of per-disclosure total water volumes reported in Table 16, suggest that a single formation is 

represented by the disclosures for Milam County in the project database. Additional information on 

producing formations in Milam County would be needed to verify this observation. 

3.2.5. Water Sources 

Although FracFocus 1.0 disclosures do not have a specific data field for identifying water sources, 

some operators used terminology in their submissions that indicated the source or quality of water 

used for base fluids. Twenty-nine percent of disclosures (10,301 of 36,046 disclosures) included 

information related to water sources, though rates of reporting varied by state (Table 17). Some of 

these terms indicated a condition of water quality, such as “fresh,” rather than a specific 

identification of the source of the water (e.g., ground water, surface water). Twenty-three different 

source water-related terms and combinations of terms were identified in the project database, 

61 A relationship between TVD and water volumes was not apparent for the entire dataset. 

62 The range (minimum to maximum) of depths reported on the 254 disclosures from Milam County, Texas, were below 

the 5th percentile of TVD values found in the project database. Two hundred ninety-eight disclosures in the project 

database indicated a TVD less than 1,000 feet in depth. For the project database, the 5th percentile for TVD was 2,872 feet 

below surface, the 95th percentile was 12,796 feet, and the median was 8,140 feet. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

55

Table 17. Number of disclosures having terms suggestive of water sources, summarized by state.

Reported water source

Number of disclosures

AK AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT WV WY State

Uncertain*

Total

Fresh

Fresh 6 45 1,042 33 489 6 2 18 503 142 40 914 118 3,020 60 46 543 18 7,045

Lease water 8 1 5 1 20 31 9 75

Surface 40 40

Reused

Produced 8 8 10 75 101

Produced/recycled 31 5 36

Recycled 2 181 1 143 327

Mixed/Other

Brine 3 4 6 15 1 3 2 42 3 1 80

Brine/fresh 3 3 1 1 3 13 1 25

Brine/lease water 1 1

Brine/salt water 2 2

Flowback/salt water 1 1

Fresh/lease water 1 1 2

Fresh/nominal recycled 4 82 2 88

Fresh/produced 1 1

Fresh/produced/ recycled 42 94 37 470 127 76 846

Fresh/recycled 261 25 35 8 1 330

Fresh/salt water 2 2

Fresh/treated water 1 1

Nominal fresh/ recycled 224 224

Recycled/surface 907 907

Salt water 2 18 14 2 63 99

Sea water 11 11

Treated water 36 1 1 19 57

Table continued on next page
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

56

Reported water source

Number of disclosures

AK AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT WV WY State

Uncertain*

Total

All water sources

Disclosures with water sources 19 1,305 19 1,551 40 610 6 4 18 509 144 134 1,009 699 3,325 69 130 690 20 10,301

Disclosures in entire dataset 37 1,409 704 4,622 100 1,029 14 4 201 2,073 1,136 147 1,832 2,458 17,056 1,279 273 1,388 139 36,046

Percentage that identify water 

source

51% 93% 2.7% 34% 40% 59% 43% 100% 9.0% 25% 13% 91% 55% 28% 19% 5.4% 48% 50% 14% 29%

Water (source unspecified) 17 20 624 2,536 34 308 1 0 83 965 863 11 418 1,121 10,024 1,008 69 595 57 18,809

* State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria.

Note: Analysis considered 36,046 disclosures and 925,972 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance 

criteria (2,484) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

57

reflecting inconsistency and possible redundancy in terminology used. Operators often described

water using general terms, such as “fresh” or “brine,” for which no standard definitions were 

provided. Source water analyses are therefore limited to operator-reported terminology. 

The term “fresh” was most often used to describe water used for base fluids and was listed as the 

only term in 68% of disclosures with information on source water (7,045 of 10,301) across 17 

states (Table 17). It is not known whether any of these disclosures used the term “fresh” to refer to 

recycled fluids that was treated to achieve the quality of fresh water. Disclosures listing only the 

term “fresh” were found in 99% of all disclosures reporting a source of water in North Dakota (503 

of 509 disclosures) and 91% of those in Texas (3,020 of 3,325 disclosures). By contrast, the term 

“fresh” was used exclusively in only 3% of disclosures reporting a water source in Arkansas (45 of 

1,305). Differences observed among disclosures from different states are likely due, in part, to 

variations in the rate of overall reporting of water sources and inconsistencies in terminology used. 

After disclosures that reported only use of fresh water, mixtures of more than one source were 

most commonly found in the project database. Twenty-four percent of disclosures (2,466 of 10,301 

disclosures; Table 17) that identified a source of water used more than one term, with the most 

common combination being “recycled” and “surface” (907 of 10,301 disclosures, all from Arkansas).

As shown in Table 18, when the term “fresh” was used in combination with other source water 

types, fresh water tended to make up a larger proportion of the hydraulic fracturing fluid. For 

instance, for disclosures in which the term “fresh” was used in combination with “recycled” or 

“produced,” the median maximum fluid concentration of “fresh” water in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

ranged from 79% to 90% by mass. The median maximum fluid concentrations associated with 

“recycled” or “produced” water, when used with “fresh” water, ranged from 4% to 90% by mass. 

Given inconsistencies in the use of terms associated with recycling of water, the frequency of use of 

recycled water was not clear from this analysis. Reporting of the terms “flowback,” “recycled,” or 

“produced” in disclosures could indicate that recycling of flowback or produced water occurred. 

Table 17 shows that the terms “flowback,” “recycled,” and “produced,” either alone or in 

combination with other water source terms, were included in 28% of disclosures containing water 

source information (2,861 of 10,301 disclosures). Disclosures in several states indicated the use of 

brine, which may also represent the use of flowback or produced water. Disclosures that contained 

only the terms “recycled” or “produced” (either alone or together) occurred in Arkansas, California, 

Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming. For these states, the median maximum 

fluid concentrations for “recycled” and “produced” were generally in excess of 70% by mass, 

suggesting substantial use of some quantity of produced water in base fluids for some disclosures.

Of the disclosures that included information on water sources, the greatest number of disclosures 

indicating the use of “recycled” or “produced” water, either alone or in combination with other 

water sources, was found in disclosures from Arkansas (93% or 1,220 of 1,305 disclosures). Median 

maximum fluid concentrations of “recycled” or “produced” water ranged from 10% to 93% 

depending on whether these water sources were blended with other sources. These concentrations
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

58

Table 18. Median maximum fluid concentrations of water by source, summarized by state.

Reported 

water source

Number of disclosures

AK AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT WV WY State 

Uncertain*

Entire 

dataset

Fresh

Fresh 84 92 81 94 87 91 88 87 86 85 84 90 83 87 91 86 82 87 87

Lease water 77 95 89 84 94 86 40 86

Surface 92 92

Reused

Produced 25 72 93 86 85

Produced/

recycled 94/94 90/90 94/94

Recycled 93 100 54 93 98

Mixed

Brine 71 83 91 88 95 84 92 83 87 87 86

Brine/fresh 13/69 7/84 4/85 3/86 3/93 13/77 5/82 13/78

Brine/lease 

water

6/86 6/86

Brine/salt water 2/90 2/90

Flowback/salt 

water

27/27 27/27

Fresh/lease 

water

53/41 94/94 74/68

Fresh/nominal 

recycled 81 88 90 88

Fresh/produced 87/4 87/4

Fresh/produced/

recycled 80/10/10 76/8/8 85/2/2 71/15/15 85/3/3 77/8/8 76/10/10

Fresh/recycled 79/13 81/81 90/90 90/90 84/84 81/16

Fresh/salt water 51/36 51/36

Fresh/treated 

water

81/81 81/81

Table continued on next page
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

59

Reported 

water source

Number of disclosures

AK AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT WV WY State 

Uncertain*

Entire 

dataset

Nominal fresh/

recycled 100 100

Recycled/surface 29/62 29/62

Salt water 100 91 87 81 94 92

Sea water 81 81

Treated water 93 89 95 85 93

All water sources

Median (source 

specified) 82 47 74 84 94 87 91 88 87 86 85 14 90 26 87 90 23 85 87 83

Median (source 

unspecified) 99 91 78 91 92 90 92 87 86 80 89 92 88 88 89 90 80 87 88

* State location did not pass state locational quality assurance criteria.

Note: Analysis considered 36,046 disclosures and 925,972 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance 

criteria (2,484) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

60

suggest substantial use of recycled water during some hydraulic fracturing operations. Notable use 

of recycled and produced water was also indicated in Pennsylvania (83% of disclosures with source 

water terms), Ohio (70%), and West Virginia (65%), although the total numbers of disclosures 

were much lower in Ohio and West Virginia than in Arkansas and Pennsylvania.

Proppants

Proppants, or materials that frequently functioned as proppants, were often reported in the 

ingredients table. The proppant analyses in this section included 26,935 unique disclosures in the 

project database with fracture dates between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013. Proppants 

were identified through entries in the purpose field (i.e., an entry similar to proppant, sand, quartz, 

or silica). The strategy of identifying proppants using the purpose field was conservative but 

consistent with the study’s approach of reporting data as closely as possible to the original PDF 

disclosures. Because some operators listed proppant ingredients without providing an entry in the 

purpose field, this analysis provides a lower limit on information regarding proppant use.63

Ingredients associated with resin coatings on proppants were excluded from this analysis and 

instead included in the additive ingredient analyses described in Section 3.3. 

The median maximum concentration of proppant ingredients in hydraulic fracturing fluids was 

11% by mass, with a range of 2.4% to 24% by mass (5th to 95th percentile). Table 19 lists the 

ingredients most frequently reported as proppants in the project database and shows the maximum 

concentrations of the ingredients in hydraulic fracturing fluids and in additives. The 10 ingredients 

in the table represent over 99% of disclosures that have ingredients with proppant-related 

purposes in the project database. 

Quartz was the most prevalent proppant ingredient reported and was identified in 98% of all 

disclosures that identified proppants by purpose, with a median maximum fluid concentration of 

10% by mass (Table 19). Silicate minerals, most notably quartz, are commonly used as proppants 

due to their mechanical strength and availability in large quantities (Beckwith, 2011). Other 

minerals identified as proppants in the project database include mullite, corundum, calcined 

bauxite, bauxite, titanium dioxide, ferric oxide, and alumina, as well as other less frequently 

reported minerals not present in Table 19. Proppants also have been manufactured from other 

materials, including glass, fly ash, and metallurgical slags (Beckwith, 2011), which were not 

observed in the project database. 

For almost 90% of the disclosures represented in the proppant analysis, quartz was the only 

ingredient listed. Other proppant ingredients were reported in many fewer disclosures than quartz, 

and they had lower median maximum fluid concentrations (Table 19), indicating their usage in 

mixtures that may be designed to achieve a certain strength or density, which suggests that they 

may be part of proppant mixtures or may be incorporated into the proppant at different stages of a 

 

63 A broader screening of multiple fields for proppant-related terms suggested the number of disclosures that included 

information on proppant use likely exceeded 34,000. This analysis queried for unique disclosures that met the date 

criterion with “sand” in the trade name, purpose, or comments fields; “prop” in the purpose field; or a chemical name of 

“sand” or “quartz” with a valid maximum fluid concentration greater than 5% by mass.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

61

Table 19. Ten most frequently reported proppant ingredients, ranked by frequency of occurrence.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in

hydraulic fracturing fluid (% by mass)

Maximum concentration in

additive (% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5thpercentile

95th

percentile

Number (%) of 

ingredient

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Quartz 14808-60-7 26,273 (98%) 10 2.4 24 40,337 (80%) 100 97 100

Mullite 1302-93-8 1,352 (5.0%) 3.4 0.000000* 12 1,592 (3.2%) 85 20 100

Cristobalite 14464-46-1 1,048 (3.9%) 0.80 0.000000* 3.9 1,201 (2.4%) 30 5.0 30

Silica, amorphous 7631-86-9 946 (3.5%) 1.1 0.000000* 3.9 1,048 (2.1%) 30 10 35

Ferric oxide 1309-37-1 867 (3.2%) 0.012 0.00038 0.66 1,406 (2.8%) 0.10 0.10 10

Alumina 1344-28-1 793 (2.9%) 0.14 0.050 16 1,347 (2.7%) 1.1 0.80 100

Titanium dioxide 13463-67-7 711 (2.6%) 0.012 0.0042 0.44 1,244 (2.5%) 0.10 0.10 5.0

Corundum (Aluminum 

oxide) 1302-74-5 668 (2.5%) 3.0 0.000000* 32 681 (1.4%) 60 35 90

Bauxite 1318-16-7 198 (0.74%) 3.4 0.52 12 218 (0.43%) 100 58 100

Calcined bauxite 66402-68-4 197 (0.73%) 2.8 0.022 20 210 (0.42%) 85 2.3 100

* Concentration is less than a millionth of a percentage by mass.

Note: Analysis considered 34,675 disclosures and 676,376 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique 

combination of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; valid CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that 

did not meet quality assurance criteria (3,855) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

62

fracturing job. In 1,093 disclosures, quartz was reported with mullite (sometimes with other

proppant ingredients); mullite is an aluminosilicate material that is a significant component in 

lightweight ceramic proppants (Brannon and Pearson, 2008). In 508 disclosures, quartz was 

reported in combination with corundum and mullite; corundum offers the benefit of very high 

strength and is a suitable component of proppant mixes for deep wells (Brannon and Pearson, 

2008). In 301 disclosures, quartz was used with bauxite or calcined bauxite, either as the only two 

materials or in combination with other proppant ingredients. Some proppant ingredients, such as 

hematite, magnesium iron silicate, and rutile had median maximum fluid concentrations under 1% 

by mass, suggesting their presence as minor constituents in sand mixtures.

Although ingredients associated with resin coatings were not included in the proppants analysis in 

Table 19, information in the project database was analyzed to estimate the use of resin-coated 

proppants. Disclosures with proppant-related purposes were further queried for indications of the 

use of resin-coated proppants in the trade name, chemical name, purpose, and comments fields. The 

fields were searched for use of the word “resin” or a common resin ingredient (e.g., phenolic resin, 

methenamine, and epoxy resin). Entries in these fields showed that 11,452 disclosures indicated

the use of a resin-coated proppant (43% of the 26,935 disclosures containing ingredients with 

proppant-related purposes).64 The largest numbers of disclosures including resin-coated proppants 

were from Colorado (2,116) and Texas (5,824), where they represent 55% and 46%, respectively, 

of the disclosures containing ingredients with proppant-related purposes in each state. Several

hundred disclosures with resin-coated proppants were also identified in Oklahoma (597 

disclosures, 47% of 1,260 disclosures with proppants in that state), New Mexico (597 disclosures, 

62% of 959 disclosures with proppants), and North Dakota (481 disclosures, 32% of 1,525 

disclosures with proppants). These data are lower limits for resin-coated proppant use, because the 

analysis was limited to disclosures that identified a proppant-related purpose for an ingredient 

record.

4.Conclusions

The summary statistics presented in this report reflect the information included in the FracFocus 

1.0 disclosures (i.e., records of hydraulic fracturing events at individual wells) submitted by well 

operators for hydraulic fracturing conducted between January 2011 and February 2013. The 

project database compiled from the disclosures and the accompanying Data Management and 

Quality Assessment Report (US EPA, 2015) are available at www2.epa.gov/

hfstudy/published-scientific-papers. 

More than 39,000 PDF disclosures were provided to the EPA by the GWPC in March 2013. 

Information on fracture date, well operator, well identification and location, production type, true 

vertical depth, and total water volume were successfully extracted from 38,530 disclosures. 

Hydraulic fracturing fluid composition data were extracted for 37,017 disclosures. Hydraulic 

fracturing fluid composition data included trade names of additives, the purpose associated with 

each additive, and the identity (i.e., chemical name and CASRN) and maximum concentration of 

 

64 An additional 3,116 disclosures indicate the use of resin-coated proppants when disclosures are included for which the 

operator did not indicated a purpose for the proppants are included in the analysis. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

63

each ingredient in an additive and in the overall hydraulic fracturing fluid. Reviews of data quality 

were conducted on the project database prior to data analysis to ensure that the results of the 

analyses reflected the data contained in the PDF disclosures, while identifying obviously invalid or 

incorrect data to exclude from analyses.

Analyses were conducted on unique (i.e., non-duplicate) disclosures with a fracture date between 

January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013, that met appropriate quality assurance criteria for a given 

analysis. The disclosures identified well locations in 406 counties in 20 states and were reported by 

428 well operators. True vertical depths ranged from approximately 2,900 feet to nearly 13,000 

feet (5th to 95th percentile), with a median of just over 8,100 feet. Generally, well locations 

represented by the disclosures were clustered in the northeast (mainly in and around 

Pennsylvania), the west central portion of the country (from North Dakota and Wyoming through 

Texas and Louisiana), and in California. Summary statistics performed on the entire dataset reflect 

a greater contribution of data from states that are better represented in the project database than 

others—partly due to the locations of oil and gas-bearing reservoirs, different state reporting 

requirements, and the success in extracting data from individual PDF disclosures.

Because of the large number of disclosures included in the project database (38,530 disclosures), 

the extensive quality checks conducted on the data, and the design of the analyses, the summary 

statistics presented in this report represent the central tendency of measures of chemical and water 

use for the disclosures in the project database. Although caution is used in drawing broad national,

state, or local inferences in chemical or water use from the summary statistics presented in this 

report, the data provide a valuable two-year snapshot of the composition of hydraulic fracturing 

fluids.

Ingredients reported in the disclosures were categorized in analyses as either additive ingredients, 

base fluid ingredients, or proppant ingredients depending upon entries in the trade name, purpose, 

and comments fields as well as the reported maximum ingredient concentration in the hydraulic 

fracturing fluid. Additive ingredients generally included chemicals reported for trade names that 

had purposes other than base fluid or proppant. The project database contains 692 unique 

ingredients reported for additives, base fluids, and proppants. Hydraulic fracturing fluids were 

generally found to contain 88% by mass water, 10% by mass quartz, and <1% by mass additive 

ingredients (median maximum hydraulic fracturing fluid concentrations). 

Additive Ingredients. The project database identified the additive ingredients most frequently 

reported and their concentrations in both hydraulic fracturing fluids and additives. Although 

chemicals claimed as CBI contributed to the incompleteness of the project database, a valid CASRN 

was identified and a standardized chemical name was assigned to 65% of the over 1.2 million 

ingredient records in the project database. The median number of unique additive ingredients per 

disclosure was 14, with a range of 4 to 28 additive ingredients (5th to 95th percentile). Additive 

ingredients found in more than half of all disclosures analyzed included methanol (in 71% of 

disclosures), hydrochloric acid (65%), and hydrotreated light petroleum distillates (65%). The sum 

of the maximum fluid concentration for all additive ingredients reported in a disclosure was less 

than 1% by mass of the hydraulic fracturing fluid in approximately 80% of disclosures, and the 

median maximum fluid concentration was 0.43% by mass. Operators designated 11% of all 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

64

ingredient records in the project database as CBI. At least one ingredient was claimed confidential 

in over 70% of disclosures.

Some disclosures in this study reflected a reporting approach that decoupled trade names from 

additive ingredient names and concentrations, which allowed operators to disclose chemicals while 

protecting CBI. This approach is consistent with suggestions by the SEAB and referred to as the 

“systems approach” to reporting (SEAB, 2011; 2014). The systems approach allowed additive

ingredients to be included in analyses for this project, while protecting the ingredients from being 

connected to trade names. Additive ingredients were claimed as CBI by operators in a portion of the 

disclosures reported used in this study that had formatting consistent with the systems approach.

Base Fluids. Base fluids described in the disclosures included water, water with non-aqueous 

ingredients (e.g., gases or hydrocarbons), and hydrocarbons only. More than 93% of the disclosures 

analyzed in the study were inferred to use water as a base fluid with a median maximum fluid 

concentration of 88% by mass. Total water volumes reported per disclosure ranged from nearly 

30,000 gallons to almost 7.2 million gallons (5th to 95th percentile), with a median total water 

volume per disclosure of approximately 1.5 million gallons. Non-aqueous constituents (e.g.,

nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons) were reported as base fluids or in combination with 

water as a base fluid in fewer than 3% of disclosures. 

Operators reported the source(s) of water used for base fluids, as suggested by the SEAB (SEAB, 

2011), in 29% of disclosures (10,301 of 36,046 disclosures), even though the FracFocus 1.0 

disclosures did not have a specific data field for identifying water sources. The term “fresh” was the 

most commonly reported water source, although this term may reflect a condition of water quality 

rather than a source. It could not be determined from the disclosures whether the source of the 

fresh water was ground water, some type of surface water body, produced water treated to “fresh” 

quality standards, or purchased from a public water system. 

A large proportion of disclosures in several states west of the Mississippi River reported fresh 

water use in base fluids. More than 90% of disclosures that identified water sources in North 

Dakota, Oklahoma, and Texas reported fresh water as the only water source. In contrast, more than 

70% of disclosures that identified water sources in Ohio and Pennsylvania identified some amount 

of reused and associated types of water in base fluids. These data indicate that base fluids were 

more likely to be made up of some reused or recycled water in several of the eastern states 

compared to several western states in the project database. 

Possible Differences between Oil and Gas Production. Data in the project database suggested some 

differences in additive ingredients and total water volumes reported for disclosures associated with 

oil wells and disclosures associated with gas wells. Oil disclosures reported a slightly larger number 

of additive ingredients per disclosure and a greater maximum concentrations of some of the more 

frequently reported additive ingredients (e.g., methanol and hydrochloric acid). Total water 

volumes appeared to be greater for gas disclosures: The median per-disclosure total water volume 

reported for gas disclosures was approximately 2.9 million gallons, while the median per-disclosure 

total water volume reported for oil disclosures was approximately 1.1 million gallons (although the 

range of water volumes per disclosure overlapped). Differences may reflect any of a number of 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

65

factors, including geologic properties of the formations being fractured, the well design (e.g., 

horizontal versus vertical wells), or operator practices.

Limitations to the Analyses. Conclusions drawn from the analyses presented in this report reflect 

data included in the project database. The content of the project database was influenced by the 

data conversion process (i.e., extracting data from PDFs into the project database) as well as the 

completeness and accuracy of data in the original PDF disclosures.

As identified throughout this report, the completeness and accuracy of the data in the original PDF 

disclosures may be affected by many factors, including state reporting requirements and ingredient 

reporting practices. By February 2013, six of the 20 states with data in the project database had 

implemented regulations that required well operators to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic 

fracturing fluids to FracFocus: Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah. 

Three additional states (Louisiana, Montana, and Ohio) required disclosure to either FracFocus or 

the state, and five states (Arkansas, Michigan, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Wyoming) required 

reporting to the state. Because the majority of disclosures in the project database (58%) were 

reported in states without mandatory reporting requirements to FracFocus or had fracture dates 

prior to regulatory effective dates for mandatory reporting to FracFocus, the project database 

cannot be assumed to be complete.

Designations of CBI, reporting of invalid CASRNs and ingredient concentrations, and the 

modification of FracFocus 1.0 disclosure templates by operators contributed to an incomplete 

record of chemical use in the project database. Furthermore, parsing problems with the modified 

templates generated erroneous ingredient records. Additionally, reporting inconsistencies in 

additive purposes, chemical names, sources of water for base fluid, and identification of base fluid 

or proppant in the purpose field prevented a stronger statistical evaluation or interpretation of 

results in this project. Despite the challenges to adapting a dataset originally created for local use 

and single-PDF viewing to answer broader questions, the project database provided substantial 

insight into water and chemical use for hydraulic fracturing. 

FracFocus 2.0, developed in late 2012, provides features such as dropdown menus, warning and 

error messages during submission, and automatic formatting of certain fields that can enhance the 

quality and consistency of data submitted by operators.65 The FracFocus 2.0 infrastructure was also 

updated to store data in XML format rather than PDF. In early 2015, the GWPC and the IOGCC 

announced additional updates to FracFocus that include providing public extraction of data in a 

machine readable format and verification of CASRNs.

Contribution of FracFocus to Scientific Studies. Understanding the chemical composition of hydraulic 

fracturing fluids and the water volumes used for hydraulic fracturing is important for assessing or 

minimizing potential drinking water impacts related to hydraulic fracturing and for planning to 

avoid those potential impacts. The wide diversity of additive ingredients and total water volumes 

reported in disclosures submitted to FracFocus 1.0 emphasizes the importance of analyzing 

hydraulic fracturing practices at different scales (from local to state to regional) as well as by 

 

65 Although FracFocus 2.0 became an option for submitting information in late 2012, it was not the exclusive disclosure 

mechanism until June 2013. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

66

production type. The project database and the summary statistics presented in this report could 

serve as a general reference, as well as a local or regional resource, for a variety of stakeholders, 

including tribal, state, and local governments; academic researchers; the oil and gas industry; nongovernmental organizations; and the public.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015 

67

References 

Adobe Systems Incorporated. 2011. Adobe Acrobat X Pro 10. 

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

71

Glossary

Acid An acid is a chemical that reduces the pH of an aqueous solution by 

increasing the ratio of hydronium (H3O+) ions to hydroxide (OH-) ions 

in solution. In hydraulic fracturing, acids such as hydrochloric, 

hydrofluoric, acetic, formic and fluoroboric are used alone or as 

blends to achieve greater fracture penetration and to reduce clogging 

of the pore spaces and fractures by dissolving minerals and clays.

Additive An ingredient or combination of ingredients that is added to a 

hydraulic fracturing base fluid to serve a specific purpose. Additives 

improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a hydraulic fracturing job 

by, for example, limiting the growth of bacteria and preventing 

corrosion of the well casing. Additives and their purposes are defined 

within the context of hydraulic fracturing, although some additives 

may also be used for other activities than hydraulic fracturing. In this 

report, an additive corresponds to the entry in the “trade name” field 

of a disclosure.

Additive ingredient For the purpose of this report, generally the ingredients in additives 

with purposes other than those associated with base fluids or 

proppants, but also includes non-aqueous base fluid ingredients and 

resin coatings for proppants.

API well number A unique identifying number assigned using a system developed by 

the American Petroleum Institute (API). The system applies to oil and 

gas wells drilled in the United States.

Base A base is a chemical that increases the pH of an aqueous solution by

increasing the ratio of hydroxide (OH-) ions to hydronium (H3O+) ions 

in solution. In hydraulic fracturing, bases help control the pH of 

fracturing fluids and optimize their performance.

Base fluid The fluid into which additives and proppants are mixed to formulate 

a hydraulic fracturing fluids. 

Basin A depression in the crust of the Earth formed by plate tectonic 

activity. Sediments may accumulate in the basin after the depression 

is created, or they may be deposited before tectonic activity forms the 

basin. 

Biocide An additive that can be used to control bacterial growth, which can 

affect the viscosity of the fracturing fluid or reduce permeability in 

the formation. Common problematic bacteria include sulfate-
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

72

reducing bacteria, slime-forming bacteria, iron-oxidizing bacteria, 

and bacteria that attack polymers in fracturing fluids. 

Breaker Also referred to as a gel breaker, an additive used to reduce the 

viscosity of a gelled fracturing fluid. This is accomplished by breaking 

long-chain polymer molecules into shorter segments. Use of a breaker 

facilitates flowback of the fluid after fracturing.

Buffer A buffer allows an aqueous solution to resist changes in pH. It 

consists of water, a weak acid or weak base, and a salt of the weak 

acid or weak base. Buffers are used to optimize performance of 

fracturing fluids that use complex polymers or crosslinked gelling 

agents. 

CASRN Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number (CASRN). A unique 

numeric identifier assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service for a 

single substance. The substance can be composed of a single chemical 

(e.g., methanol) or can be a mixture of chemicals (e.g., hydrotreated 

light petroleum distillates). 

CBI Confidential Business Information. Information that contains trade 

secrets, commercial or financial information, or other information 

that has been claimed as confidential by the submitter. 

Clay control An additive used in hydraulic fracturing to prevent swelling and 

migration of formation clays when water-based fluids are used. 

Swelling and migration of clays can cause reduced permeability and 

productivity by clogging pore spaces in the formation. 

Conventional production Crude oil and natural gas that is produced by a well drilled into a 

geologic formation in which the reservoir and fluid characteristics 

permit oil and natural gas to readily flow to the wellbore.

Corrosion inhibitor An additive used to protect iron and steel equipment and wellbore 

components from corrosive ingredients used in acid treatments. 

These corrosive agents include various types of acids and hydrogen 

sulfide. 

Crosslinker An additive, typically a metallic salt, added to a linear gel base fluid to 

create a more viscous gel. This enables a fracturing fluid to carry 

more proppant. Crosslinkers increase the viscosity of the linear gel 

fluid by connecting polymer molecules in a three dimensional 

structure. After fracturing, the viscosity is reduced by a breaker to 

facilitate flowback of the fluid to the well. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

73

CSV Comma-separated values (CSV). File format where tabular data are 

presented as plain text with values separated by a special character, 

commonly a comma (,).

Disclosure As used in this report, a disclosure refers to all data submitted for a 

specific oil and gas production well for a specific fracture date.

Flowback After the hydraulic fracturing procedure is completed and pressure is 

released, the direction of fluid flow reverses, and fracturing fluids, 

any fluids naturally found in the formation, and excess proppant flow 

up through the wellbore to the surface. The fluids that return to the 

surface are commonly referred to as flowback. Flowback also refers 

to the process of allowing these fluids to flow from the well following 

a treatment.

Formation A continuous body of rock with distinctive properties and large 

enough dimensions for mapping.

Friction reducer An additive used to reduce friction in the wellbore, allowing fluid to 

move more quickly and efficiently. 

Gelling agent An additive used to increase fluid viscosity. Gels may be linear or 

cross-linked. The greater viscosity serves several purposes, including 

increasing the ability of the fluid to carry proppant and helping to 

minimize fluid loss. 

Geoprocessing tool Tool available in ArcGIS that is used to analyze and process spatial 

data.

Hydraulic fracturing 

fluid

A mixture of base fluid, additive ingredients, and proppants pumped 

under high pressure into a well to create fractures in the target 

formation and to carry proppant into the fractures.

Iron control agent An additive used to increase the solubility of iron, removing and 

preventing the precipitation of iron-bearing additives such as iron 

hydroxide and iron sulfide. This helps control rust, sludges, and scale 

that can damage the formation. 

Non-emulsifier A chemical or mixture of chemicals used to prevent or minimize the 

formation of emulsions. Emulsions may form from the interaction of 

the fracturing fluid with hydrocarbons in the subsurface. A nonemulsifier facilitates separation of oil or gas from the flowback. 

Parsing Process of analyzing a string of symbols to identify and separate 

various components. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

74

pH control An additive that either adjusts the pH of the fluid or buffers the pH 

against change (buffer). Control of pH is needed for effective 

performance of the fracturing fluid, including facilitating the 

crosslinking of gels and use of breakers. 

Play An area in which hydrocarbon accumulations occur. The 

accumulations typically have similar geologic, geographic, and 

temporal properties such as source rock, hydrocarbon type, 

migration pathway, and trapping mechanism. 

Proppant Solids of a particular size, shape, and material that are carried into 

the fractures in a hydrocarbon formation by the hydraulic fracturing 

fluid. Their purpose is to hold the fractures open after hydraulic 

fracturing. In addition to naturally occurring sand, engineered 

materials, such as resin-coated sand or high-strength ceramic 

materials (e.g., sintered bauxite) may also be used.

Reservoir Generally, a subsurface body of rock able to store fluids such as oil 

and natural gas and allow the flow of fluids within the rock.

Scale inhibitor An additive used to control or prevent the formation of mineral scales 

in the formation or the well tubing. Scale deposition can inhibit 

hydrocarbon flow. 

Stacked plays Multiple reservoirs located at different depths within a sedimentary 

basin. Stacked plays may be accessed using a single vertical well or 

multiple horizontal wells, and may be either conventional or 

unconventional.

Surfactant A chemical with polar and non-polar regions that allow it to reduce 

the surface tension at the interface between two liquids or between a 

liquid and a solid. This property means that surfactants can be used 

as emulsifiers, foaming agents, defoaming agents, and dispersants.

True vertical depth 

(TVD)

The vertical distance from a subsurface point in the well to a point at 

the surface, usually the rotary kelly bushing. 

Unconventional 

production

Oil and natural gas that cannot be produced by the methods that are 

typically used for permeable sandstone and carbonate hydrocarbon 

reservoirs. Reservoirs that require unconventional production have 

porosities, permeabilities, or other properties that necessitate 

techniques such as hydraulic fracturing to stimulate the flow of 

hydrocarbons to a well. Unconventional production may occur in 

hydrocarbon reservoirs including coalbeds, shales, and sandstones. 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

75

Viscosifier An additive used to increase the viscosity of a fluid. Viscosity is a fluid 

property that indicates the fluid’s resistance to flow.

Well operator A company that owns and/or operates oil and gas wells. 

Wellbore The drilled hole in which the well is constructed including the 

openhole or uncased portion of the well. The term “wellbore” is 

independent of the materials that form the well such as casing and 

tubing.

XML file A file coded according to the Extensible Markup Language (XML) for 

easy sharing of data and formatting.

References 

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at http://oilindependents.org/the-imperishable-permian-basin/. Accessed June 4, 2014.

Schlumberger. 2014. Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary. Available at 

http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com. Accessed January 22, 2014.

Society of Petroleum Engineers. 2014. PetroWiki Glossary. Available at http://petrowiki.org/

Category:Glossary. Accessed January 22, 2014.

US Energy Information Administration. 2014. Glossary. Available at http://www.eia.gov/

tools/glossary/. Accessed April 28, 2014.

US Geological Survey. 2014. Geologic Glossary. Available at http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/

misc/glossarya.html. Accessed January 22, 2014.
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Appendix A. Shale Basin Map

Note: Shale basins are those sedimentary basins associated with oil and gas shale plays (US EIA, 2011a). The EIA-delineated 

shale basins provide basic geologic context for the locations of disclosures in the project database. Disclosures also represent oil 

and gas wells producing from tight sand plays and coalbed methane plays; maps of tight gas basins and coalbed methane basins 

are available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The shale gas basins are presented here because they represent 

many major sedimentary basins in the United States. 

Figure A-1. Shale basins map (US EIA, 2011a).

76
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Appendix B. Chemical Families for Ingredients Listed as

Confidential Business Information

This appendix includes a tabulation of information provided by well operators on the chemical 

families of the ingredients that were claimed to be confidential business information (CBI). We 

evaluated 122,915 ingredient records (from disclosures with unique combinations of fracture date 

and API well number and with a fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013) 

that have a CBI synonym in the CASRN field and an entry in the chemical name field.1 An additional 

696 ingredient records had a CBI entry in the CASRN field, but no information in the chemical name 

field. 

Ingredient records containing “CBI” or a synonym in the CASRN field were sorted into the 

categories listed in the table below. Entries in the records were minimally standardized to correct 

for misspellings and capitalization and to consolidate nearly identical entries. Those entries with 

partially defined chemical information were tabulated to list the number and percentage of 

disclosures associated with each of the standardized chemical families listed in Table B-1. The 

partial definition provided enough description to narrow the scope of potential chemicals or 

indicate a general chemical group.

Type of entry in the chemical name field Percentage of 

ingredient records

CBI synonym 9.6%

Partially defined chemical (enough description to narrow the list of 

potential chemicals or indicate a general chemical group) 79%

Ingredient (specifically defined chemical) (e.g., hydrochloric acid, 

ammonium chloride, amorphous silica) 2.1%

Purpose (entries provides information on purpose rather than 

chemical family) (e.g., surfactant) 7.5%

Multiple entries (more than one chemical name in the field) 0.088%

Other (an entry that does not provide information on a specific 

chemical or chemical grouping and does not fall into one of the other 

categories)

1.3%

Total 100%

1 The 122,915 ingredient records are a subset of the 129,311 ingredient records identified as CBI ingredient records in 

Section 2.2.3. The 129,311 ingredient records were identified by the presence of “CBI” or a synonym in either the CASRN 

field or chemical name field. The 122,915 ingredient records have “CBI” or a synonym in the CASRN field and a non-null 

entry in the chemical name field. 

77

 
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Table B-1. Chemical families for CBI ingredient records.

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Oxyalkylated alcohol 12 5,809 4.7%

Petroleum distillates 23 4,974 4.0%

Quaternary ammonium 

compounds 27 4,461 3.6%

Aromatic aldehyde 9 2,227 1.8%

Polyoxyalkylenes 6 1,955 1.6%

Olefins 9 1,933 1.6%

Fatty acids 4 1,920 1.6%

Aliphatic acids 3 1,748 1.4%

Cured acrylic resin 9 1,701 1.4%

Polyglycol ester 4 1,697 1.4%

Polyol ester 3 1,695 1.4%

Aliphatic alcohols, ethoxylated 

#1 3 1,627 1.3%

Vinyl copolymer 3 1,600 1.3%

Amino alkyl phosphonic acid 4 1,530 1.2%

Alcohol ethoxylate surfactants 6 1,528 1.2%

Aliphatic hydrocarbon 3 1,527 1.2%

Carbohydrate polymer 2 1,439 1.2%

Alkylene oxide block polymer 6 1,412 1.1%

Copolymer 2 1,390 1.1%

Organic amine resin salt 5 1,304 1.1%

Oxyalkylated alkyl alcohol 6 1,257 1.0%

Aliphatic polyol 2 1,073 0.87%

Phosphonate salt 6 1,044 0.85%

Organic sulfur compounds 8 1,029 0.84%

Oxyalkylated fatty acid 5 984 0.80%

Ethoxylated alcohol blend 2 971 0.79%

Polymer 9 968 0.79%

Quaternary amines 10 927 0.75%

Inorganic salt 7 917 0.75%

Alkoxylated amines 6 882 0.72%

Aliphatic alcohol glycol ether 3 876 0.71%

Haloalkyl heteropolycycle salt 8 858 0.70%

Ethoxylated alcohol 5 855 0.70%

Alcohols 6 841 0.68%

Borate salt 12 810 0.66%

Table continued on next page

78
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Amine salt 9 802 0.65%

Alcohol ethoxylate 9 794 0.65%

Polyquaternary amine 3 781 0.64%

Alcohol alkoxylate 5 766 0.62%

Aldehyde 7 754 0.61%

Organic phosphonate 5 747 0.61%

Inorganic chemical 3 737 0.60%

Polyelectrolyte 4 737 0.60%

n-olefins 5 711 0.58%

Oxyalkylated phenolic resin 8 708 0.58%

Guar gum derivative 6 696 0.57%

Branched alcohol oxyalkylate 1 653 0.53%

Cocoamido tertiary amine 2 607 0.49%

Sulfonate 7 568 0.46%

Cyclic alkanes 2 546 0.44%

Ethoxylated alcohols 4 493 0.40%

Ammonium salt 10 491 0.40%

Hydrocarbon 3 477 0.39%

Quaternary ammonium salt 8 463 0.38%

Glycol ether 4 458 0.37%

Amine phosphonate 1 2 424 0.34%

Carbohydrates 5 415 0.34%

Essential oils 3 414 0.34%

Alkyl phosphate ester 3 412 0.34%

Fatty acid amidoalkyl betaine 1 412 0.34%

Clay 6 406 0.33%

Sulfonated polystyrene 1 405 0.33%

Polyethoxylated alkanol (1) 1 404 0.33%

Polyethoxylated alkanol (2) 1 404 0.33%

Polyacrylamide copolymer 5 393 0.32%

Acrylamide 2 380 0.31%

Organophilic clays 7 369 0.30%

Substituted alcohol 2 369 0.30%

Ethoxylated nonylphenol 8 340 0.28%

Acid phosphate ester 2 337 0.27%

Alkyl alkoxylate 3 335 0.27%

Polyacrylate 7 329 0.27%

Ethoxylated fatty acid 4 327 0.27%

Table continued on next page

79
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Aliphatic alcohol 2 306 0.25%

Organic polyol 3 304 0.25%

Castor oil 3 303 0.25%

Fatty acid 1 303 0.25%

Fatty acid salt 1 303 0.25%

Polysaccharide blend 2 299 0.24%

Polysubstituted aromatic 

hydrocarbon solvent 1 286 0.23%

Synthetic organic polymer 2 281 0.23%

Oxyalkylated alkanols 2 280 0.23%

Neutralized polymer 2 278 0.23%

Non-hazardous salts (Choline) 2 276 0.22%

Nonylphenol ethoxylate 6 275 0.22%

Ethoxylated alcohols 2 2 267 0.22%

Cationic water soluble polymer 

emulsion 2 266 0.22%

Organic sulfonic acid salt 2 265 0.22%

Oxyalkylated polyamine 2 264 0.21%

Synthetic polymer 3 256 0.21%

Quaternary salt 2 252 0.21%

Anionic copolymer 2 248 0.20%

Polyglycol 1 245 0.20%

Anionic polyacrylamide 2 242 0.20%

Acrylamide modified polymer 3 241 0.20%

Neutralized polycarboxylic acid 2 234 0.19%

Fatty acids, tall oil 5 231 0.19%

Amine phosphonate 5 1 228 0.19%

Non-hazardous salts 5 226 0.18%

Amine derivative 2 220 0.18%

Hemicellulase enzyme 

concentrate

1 219 0.18%

Secondary alcohol 4 218 0.18%

Mannanase enzymes 6 215 0.17%

Neutralized traceable polymer 1 214 0.17%

Cationic polyacrylamide 

copolymer 8 209 0.17%

Enzyme 7 207 0.17%

Organic alcohol 1 199 0.16%

Proprietary methanol 1 199 0.16%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

1,3-propanediol, 2-amino2(hm)-polymer 2 192 0.16%

Polyacrylamide polymer 1 192 0.16%

Polyoxyalkylenes surfactant 1 192 0.16%

Anionic polymer 4 185 0.15%

Inorganic base 2 177 0.14%

Ammonium alkyl ether sulfate 1 175 0.14%

Anionic polyacrylamide 

copolymer 3 173 0.14%

Enzyme solution 1 170 0.14%

Amine phosphonate 5, 

potassium salt 2 169 0.14%

Substituted alkylamine 1 162 0.13%

Olefin sulfonate 2 160 0.13%

Polyester 1 158 0.13%

Hexyl alcohol, ethyxylated 1 157 0.13%

Alkyl alcohol 1 152 0.12%

Hydrotreated light petroleum 

distillate 4 146 0.12%

Acyclic hydrocarbons 4 145 0.12%

Oxylated alkanols 1 145 0.12%

Acrylate polymer 5 144 0.12%

Light aromatic hydrocarbon 

solvent 1 144 0.12%

Acrylamide polymer 3 143 0.12%

Cellulase enzyme 3 143 0.12%

Phosphonic acid 3 140 0.11%

Alkanolamine/aldehyde 

condensate 1 134 0.11%

Ethoxylated phenolic resin 1 128 0.10%

Amines 2 127 0.10%

Oxyalkylated alkylphenol 3 127 0.10%

Salt 4 127 0.10%

Modified carboxylic acid 

polymer salt 2 123 0.10%

Sodium salt 3 122 0.10%

Acetylenic alcohol 2 121 0.10%

Complex alkylaryl polyo-ester 2 121 0.10%

Phosphoric acid ester 3 120 0.10%

Organic phosphonic acid salts 6 119 0.10%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Unsulphonated matter 2 117 0.10%

Modified alkane 4 111 0.090%

Polyacrylamide 2 107 0.087%

Polymer blend 3 107 0.087%

Modified thiourea polymer 4 105 0.085%

Amines, coco alkyl, acetates 1 104 0.085%

Terpenes and terpenoids 4 100 0.081%

Acrylate copolymer, sodium salt 2 99 0.081%

Sodium polyphosphate 1 99 0.081%

Ammonium alkyl sulfate 1 98 0.080%

Silica organic polymer 2 96 0.078%

Phosphonate compound 1 95 0.077%

Borate suspension 1 94 0.076%

Alkenes 3 89 0.072%

Formic acid additive 1 88 0.072%

Aliphatic alcohols, 

ethoxylated #2 2 82 0.067%

Epoxy resin 3 82 0.067%

Phosphate ester 5 78 0.063%

Phosphonic acid derivative 3 74 0.060%

Polycarboxylic acid polymer 1 74 0.060%

Poly phosphonate 1 71 0.058%

Organo phosphorous salt 3 69 0.056%

Nickel chelate catalyst 3 68 0.055%

Acrylate phosphonate 

copolymer 1 67 0.055%

Neutralized organic acid 1 67 0.055%

Resin based nonionic inhibitor 1 67 0.055%

Sodium polycarboxylate 2 65 0.053%

Terpene 2 65 0.053%

Mannase enzymes 1 64 0.052%

Poly (acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) 1 64 0.052%

Inorganic mineral 3 62 0.050%

Alcoholic amine 2 59 0.048%

Anionic water soluble polymer 4 56 0.046%

Tallow soap 3 56 0.046%

Aliphatic copolymer 2 54 0.044%

Alkyl sulfate 1 54 0.044%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Amine phosphonate salt 1 52 0.042%

Modified bentonite 5 52 0.042%

Alkene sulfonate 1 51 0.041%

Polyamine 1 51 0.041%

Polysaccharide 5 51 0.041%

Quaternary ammonium 4 51 0.041%

Sulfate 1 51 0.041%

Weak acid 1 51 0.041%

Acid 1 50 0.041%

Inner salt of alkyl amines 3 49 0.040%

Alcohol alkoxy sulfate 1 48 0.039%

Ethoxylated oil 1 48 0.039%

Organic acid salts 1 48 0.039%

Propylene glycol copolymer 1 47 0.038%

Zirconium complex 2 46 0.037%

Aromatic amine 1 45 0.037%

Hemicellulase 1 45 0.037%

Inorganic material 1 44 0.036%

Ethoxylated alcohol linear 2 2 42 0.034%

Cellulose 1 41 0.033%

Modified amine 1 41 0.033%

Oxalkylated fatty acid 1 41 0.033%

Acrylate copolymer 1 40 0.033%

Alkyl amine surfactant 4 39 0.032%

Inorganic borate 3 39 0.032%

Non-hazardous polymers 2 38 0.031%

Organic salt 5 37 0.030%

Ester solvents 1 36 0.029%

Cationic polymer 2 35 0.028%

Fatty acid amine salt mixture 6 35 0.028%

Polycationic organic polymer 4 35 0.028%

Synthetic resin fibers 1 34 0.028%

Amine phosphonate 7 2 33 0.027%

Iso-alkanes/n-alkanes 1 33 0.027%

Organic acid esters 2 33 0.027%

Oxoalkyl compounds 2 33 0.027%

Vegetable oil 2 33 0.027%

Alkylalcohol ethoxylated 1 32 0.026%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Oxyalkalated alkyl alcohol (1) 1 32 0.026%

Isomeric aromatic ammonium 

salt 1 31 0.025%

Nonylphenol 2 29 0.024%

Quaternized alkyl nitrogenated 

compound 8 29 0.024%

Secondary alcohol ethoxylate 1 29 0.024%

Nonylphenol ethoxylate 

surfactant 1 28 0.023%

Zirconium complexes (2) 1 27 0.022%

Cocamide based surfactant 1 25 0.020%

Alcohols, C12-16, ethoxylated 3 24 0.020%

Phosphorous compound 2 24 0.020%

Resin 4 23 0.019%

Resin compound 2 23 0.019%

Anionic inverse-emulsion 

polymer 1 22 0.018%

Aromatic ketones mixture 2 22 0.018%

Dimer fatty acids 2 22 0.018%

Polymers derived from fatty 

acids 1 22 0.018%

Stearates 1 21 0.017%

Aliphatic polymer 1 20 0.016%

Polyanionic Cellulose 2 20 0.016%

Tall oil acid diethanolamide 3 20 0.016%

Amine surfactant 1 19 0.015%

Complex alkylamine 4 19 0.015%

Distillates (petroleum), 

hydrotreated light 1 19 0.015%

Amine phosphonate 2 18 0.015%

Complex fatty acid compound 3 18 0.015%

Fatty acid ester 1 18 0.015%

Polyethoxylated alcohol 2 18 0.015%

Siloxane 1 18 0.015%

Alkyl quaternary ammonium 

chlorides 5 17 0.014%

Alkylated quaternary chloride 1 17 0.014%

Antimonate salt 1 17 0.014%

Cocoamido tertiary amine 

additive 1 17 0.014%

Emulsion polymer 1 17 0.014%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Ethoxylated amine 2 17 0.014%

Fused inorganics 1 17 0.014%

Organometallic salt 2 17 0.014%

Salt of phosphate ester 2 17 0.014%

Alcohol ethoxylate C-10/16 with 

6.5 EO 1 16 0.013%

Ethoxylated alcohol linear 1 1 16 0.013%

Ethoxylated alcohol linear 3 1 16 0.013%

Fatty alkyl heteroclyclic amine 

salt 2 16 0.013%

Organo clay 2 15 0.012%

Sodium salt of 

phosphonodimethylated 

diamine

3 15 0.012%

Oxyalkylated ammonium salt 1 14 0.011%

Polyethoxylated fatty amine salt 2 14 0.011%

Polyurethane resin 1 14 0.011%

Quaternary ammonium chloride 3 14 0.011%

Alkyl amine salts 2 13 0.011%

Ethoxylated decyl alcohol 1 13 0.011%

Alkaline salt 2 12 0.0098%

Chloride compound 1 12 0.0098%

Complex ester 1 12 0.0098%

Ester mixture 1 12 0.0098%

Ethoxylated surfactant 1 12 0.0098%

Glycol 4 12 0.0098%

Hydrocarbon solvent 1 12 0.0098%

Acrylic polymer 5 11 0.0089%

Amine phosphate 5 1 11 0.0089%

Amine phosphate 5, potassium 

salt 1 11 0.0089%

Bis quaternary compond 1 11 0.0089%

Organic chloride 1 11 0.0089%

alpha-(4-nonylphenyl)-omegahydr oxy-, branched 2 10 0.0081%

Complex carbohydrate 3 10 0.0081%

Hydrotreated mineral oil 1 10 0.0081%

Propoxylated alcohol 1 10 0.0081%

Alcohols, C14-C15, ethoxylated 3 9 0.0073%

Amine sulfonate 2 9 0.0073%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Ethylene/propylene oxide 

polymer 2 9 0.0073%

Phosphonic acid salt 1 9 0.0073%

Phosphonium salt 2 9 0.0073%

Oxyalkylated polymer 1 8 0.0065%

Oxyalkylated resin 1 8 0.0065%

Polyoxyalkenes 2 8 0.0065%

Amino compounds 1 7 0.0057%

Carbonates 1 7 0.0057%

Carboxylic acid salt 1 7 0.0057%

Ether salt 1 7 0.0057%

Isobutyl ketone I 1 7 0.0057%

Isobutyl ketone II 1 7 0.0057%

Isomeric aromatic ammonium 1 7 0.0057%

Modified polyacrylate 1 7 0.0057%

Phosphonate 1 7 0.0057%

Polylactide resin 2 7 0.0057%

Quaternary ammonium 

compounds, dicoco 

alkyldimethyl, chlorides - TS

1 7 0.0057%

Alkoxylated alcohol 1 6 0.0049%

Anionic polyacrylamide 

emulsion in mineral oil 1 6 0.0049%

Aromatic alcohol glycol ether 1 6 0.0049%

Cationic polyamine 1 6 0.0049%

Cationic polyamine blend 1 6 0.0049%

Ethoxylated alkyl amines 1 6 0.0049%

Hydrotreated petroleum 

distallate 1 6 0.0049%

Mineral oil 1 6 0.0049%

Organophosphonate 2 6 0.0049%

Oxyalkylated fatty acid 

derivative 2 6 0.0049%

Phosphonate of a diamine, 

sodium salt 1 6 0.0049%

Alkyl phosphonate 1 5 0.0041%

Alkyl thiol 1 5 0.0041%

Alkylarylpyridinium quaternary 1 5 0.0041%

Amino alcohols 1 5 0.0041%

Carboxylate salt 1 5 0.0041%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Citrus rutaceae extract 2 5 0.0041%

Cured resin 1 5 0.0041%

Mixed alkyl phosphate ester 

(mixture) 1 5 0.0041%

Naphthenic acid ethoxylate 2 5 0.0041%

Phosphonate, amine salt 1 5 0.0041%

Polyacrylate polymer 1 5 0.0041%

Polycarboxylate 1 5 0.0041%

2,7-Naphthalenedisulfonic acid, 1 4 0.0033%

Alkanolamine 2 4 0.0033%

Alkylpyridinium quaternary 1 4 0.0033%

Alphiatic polyol 1 4 0.0033%

Amine phosphate 1 4 0.0033%

Amino methylene phosphonic 

acid 1 4 0.0033%

Aromatic alcohol polyglycol 

ether 2 4 0.0033%

Aromatic ammonium salt 1 4 0.0033%

Aromatic hydrocarbon 2 4 0.0033%

Ester salt 1 4 0.0033%

Ethoxylated alcohol linear 1,2 

and 3 1 4 0.0033%

Fatty alcohol polyglycol ether 

surfactant 1 4 0.0033%

Heavy aromatic petroleum 

naphtha 1 4 0.0033%

Inorganic oxygen compound 1 4 0.0033%

Modified acrylamide copolymer 2 4 0.0033%

Oxylated alcohol 2 4 0.0033%

Polyether 1 4 0.0033%

Polyoxyalkylated ether 2 4 0.0033%

Aliphatic alcohol polyglycol 

ether 1 3 0.0024%

Aliphatic amide derivative 1 3 0.0024%

Amide 1 3 0.0024%

Amine phosphonate 7, 

ammonium salt 1 3 0.0024%

Amino phosphonate 5 1 3 0.0024%

Amino phosphonate 5, 

potassium salt 1 3 0.0024%

Aromatic acid derivative 1 3 0.0024%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Aromatic amine, TOFA salt 1 3 0.0024%

Condensed alkanolamine 1 3 0.0024%

Dicarbonous ethoxylate 2 3 0.0024%

Ether compound 1 3 0.0024%

Ethoxylated C12-15 alcohols 1 3 0.0024%

Imidazolium compound 1 3 0.0024%

Phosphate acid blend 1 3 0.0024%

Phosphoric acid salt 1 3 0.0024%

Phosphorous based chemical 

blend 1 3 0.0024%

Ployacrylate/phosphonate acid 

blend 1 3 0.0024%

Polyester castor 1 3 0.0024%

Quaternary compound 1 3 0.0024%

Silicate mineral 2 3 0.0024%

Sulfur compound 1 3 0.0024%

Alcohol amine 1 2 0.0016%

Aliphatic ester 1 2 0.0016%

Aliphatic synthetic polymer 1 2 0.0016%

Alkanes 1 2 0.0016%

Alkyl aryl amine sulfonate 1 2 0.0016%

Amines, coco alkyl, ethoxylated 1 2 0.0016%

Aminofunctional polymer 1 2 0.0016%

Carboxymethylhydroxypropyl 

guar blend 1 2 0.0016%

Ester 1 2 0.0016%

Ethoxylated oleyl amine 1 2 0.0016%

Formaldehyde polymer 1 2 0.0016%

Hemicellulase enzyme 2 2 0.0016%

Liquid salt 1 2 0.0016%

Non-anionic surfactant 1 2 0.0016%

Organic amino silane 2 2 0.0016%

Organic polymer 1 2 0.0016%

Oxyalkylate polymer 1 2 0.0016%

Oxylated phenolic resin 1 2 0.0016%

Polycarboxylic acid 1 2 0.0016%

Polyoxyethylene derivative 2 2 0.0016%

Raffinates(Petroleum) 1 2 0.0016%

Salt of aliphatic acid 1 2 0.0016%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Silicane derivative 2 2 0.0016%

Sodium xylene sulfonate 1 2 0.0016%

Terpenes and terpenoids, sweet 

orange-oil 1 2 0.0016%

Terpolymer sodium salt 1 2 0.0016%

Acrylamide copolymer 1 1 0.00081%

Acrylic acid polymer 1 1 0.00081%

Alcohol amine salts 1 1 0.00081%

Alcohol ethoxylate distillate 1 1 0.00081%

Alcohol ethoxylates 1 1 0.00081%

Alkalines 1 1 0.00081%

Alkanolamine chelate of 

zirconium 1 1 0.00081%

Alkanolamine chelate of 

zirconium alkoxide 1 1 0.00081%

Alkenens, C15-C18 1 1 0.00081%

Alkkoxylated alkylphenol 1 1 0.00081%

Alkyl sulfonate 1 1 0.00081%

Alkyl sulfonate amine salts 1 1 0.00081%

Alkylamine halide salt 1 1 0.00081%

Alkylamine salts 1 1 0.00081%

Alkylammonium 1 1 0.00081%

Alkylbenzenesulfonic acid 1 1 0.00081%

Amine phosphate 1 1 1 0.00081%

Amphoteric alkyl amine 1 1 0.00081%

Aromatic polymer 1 1 0.00081%

Chloromethylnapthalene 

quinoline quaternary amine 1 1 0.00081%

Citrus terpenes 1 1 0.00081%

Copolymer resin 1 1 0.00081%

Cycloparrafins 1 1 0.00081%

Derivative of acrylic acid 

copolymer 1 1 0.00081%

Enzyme protein 1 1 0.00081%

Ethoxylated lauryl alcohol 1 1 0.00081%

Fatty amine quaternary 1 1 0.00081%

Guar - carbohydrate 1 1 0.00081%

Guar gum 1 1 0.00081%

Heavy aromatic petroleum 1 1 0.00081%

Hydrotreated light 1 1 0.00081%

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Standardized chemical

family name

Number of chemical 

names with this 

standardized family 

name*

Number of CBI 

ingredient records

CBI records as percent

of total CBI

ingredient records

Hydrotreated paraffinic solvent 1 1 0.00081%

Metal chloride 1 1 0.00081%

Methanol complex fatty-acid 

compound 1 1 0.00081%

Modified acrylate polymer 1 1 0.00081%

Modified cycloaliphatic amine 1 1 0.00081%

m-olefins 1 1 0.00081%

Noionic fluorsurfactant 1 1 0.00081%

Non hazardous sodium

polyacrylate solution 1 1 0.00081%

Non-hazardous synthetic acid 1 1 0.00081%

Olefins oganic salt 1 1 0.00081%

Oranophilic clay 1 1 0.00081%

Organic acid zirconium salt 1 1 0.00081%

Organic amine 1 1 0.00081%

Organic phosphonate salts 1 1 0.00081%

Organophosphorous salt 1 1 0.00081%

Oxyalkylated fatty amine 1 1 0.00081%

Polacrylamide copolymer 1 1 0.00081%

Poly(dimethylaminoethyl 

methacrylate dimethyl sulfate 

quat)

1 1 0.00081%

Polyamine polymer 1 1 0.00081%

Polyolycol ester 1 1 0.00081%

Quarternary ammonium salt 1 1 0.00081%

Quaternary amine compounds 1 1 0.00081%

Quaternary heteropolycycle salt 1 1 0.00081%

Resin coated cellulose 1 1 0.00081%

Sodium carboxylate 1 1 0.00081%

Sodium salt of aliphatic amine 

acid 1 1 0.00081%

Sodium salt 

phosphonodimethylated 1 1 0.00081%

Surface base on cocamide 1 1 0.00081%

Zirconium salt solution 1 1 0.00081%

Zirconium/triethanolamine 

complex 1 1 0.00081%

Total 97,610 79%

* Counts in this column represent the number of distinct combinations of chemical name and CASRN (for example, “borate 

salts” with a CASRN of “CBI” and “borate salts” with a CASRN of “Confidential” are counted separately).

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Table B-2. Most frequently reported chemical families among CBI ingredients and their most commonly listed 

purposes.

Standardized chemical

family name Most commonly listed purposes for additives containing the chemical

Alcohol ethoxylate 

surfactants Friction Reducers, Corrosion Inhibitors, Surfactants

Aliphatic acids Corrosion Inhibitors

Aliphatic alcohols, 

ethoxylated #1 Corrosion Inhibitors

Aliphatic hydrocarbon Surfactants, Scale Control, Friction Reducers

Alkylene oxide block 

polymer Surfactants, Corrosion Inhibitors, Scale Control

Amino alkyl phosphonic acid Scale Control

Aromatic aldehyde Corrosion Inhibitors

Carbohydrate polymer Gelling Agents and Gel Stabilizers

Copolymer Surfactants, Scale Control, Solvents

Cured acrylic resin Surfactants, Breakers and Breaker Catalysts, Scale Control

Fatty acids Corrosion Inhibitors, Clean Perforations

Olefins Corrosion Inhibitors, Iron Control Agents, Clean Perforations, Gelling Agents 

and Gel Stabilizers

Organic amine resin salt Corrosion Inhibitors

Oxyalkylated alcohol Non-Emulsifiers, Surfactants, Friction Reducers, Scale Control

Petroleum distillates Gelling Agents and Gel Stabilizers, Solvents, Friction Reducers, Crosslinkers and 

Related Additives

Polyglycol ester Surfactants, Scale Control, Solvents, Biocides

Polyol ester Surfactants, Scale Control, Solvents, Biocides

Polyoxyalkylenes Corrosion Inhibitors, Clean Perforations

Quaternary ammonium 

compounds Corrosion Inhibitors, Non-Emulsifiers, Surfactants

Vinyl copolymer Surfactants, Scale Control, Solvents

Note: Analysis considered 36,544 disclosures and 1,218,003 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, 

including: completely parsed; unique combination of fracture date and API well number; and fracture date between

January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (1,986 disclosures) or 

other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Appendix C. Histograms of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid 

Concentrations for Most Frequently Reported Additive 

Ingredients

The histograms in this appendix display the distributions of the median maximum hydraulic 

fracturing fluid concentrations for the twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients. The 

graphs were developed to supplement the data provided in Tables 8 and 9 by providing a visual 

display data that can help in assessing how effectively the median indicates central tendency for 

these additive ingredients. Graphs indicate the median for oil wells (graph heading “Oil”), gas wells

(“Gas”), and oil plus gas wells (“All disclosures”) for the entire project database and are displayed 

with both a linear x-axis scale and a log normal x-axis scale. 

The data for the histograms were based on the QA criteria used to produce Tables 8 and 9. The data 

included in analyses came from unique disclosures (unique combination of fracture date and API 

well number) with fracture dates between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013, successfully 

parsed ingredients data, valid CASRNs for ingredient records, and valid additive and fluid 

concentrations for ingredient records. 

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Appendix D. List of Operators

Table D-1. Disclosures per state, summarized by well operator (428 operators included in the project database).

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

**Unspecified** 8 2 3 2 19 34

3-M Energy Corporation 4 4

Abraxas Petroleum Corporation 1 1 4 1 7

Aera Energy 447 447

Alpha Shale Resources LP 5 5

Alta Mesa Holdings 1 1

Amerada Hess Corporation 1 1

Amexco LLC 1 1

Anadarko E & P Company LP 1 4 5

Anadarko E&P Onshore LLC 11 44 55

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation 1 7 171 621 654 101 1 1556

Anschutz Exploration Corporation 3 3 6

Antero Resources 25 20 45

Apache Corporation 1 2 278 112 1078 9 1480

Apollo Operating, LLC 15 15

Approach Resources 22 22

Arabella Petroleum Company LLC 2 2

ARCO Permian 1 1

Argent Energy (US) Holdings 1 1

Aruba Petroleum 23 23

Athlon Energy 99 99

Athlon Energy Operating 1 1

Athlon Fe Operating LLC 4 4

Atlantic Operating 7 7

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Atlas 2 2

Atlas Barnett LLC 5 5

Atlas Energy, L.P. 25 2 27

Austin Exploration, Inc. 2 2

Axia Energy LLC 2 11 13

Aztec Drilling and Operating 30 30

BASA Resources, Inc. 5 5

Bass Enterprises Production Company 7 7

Bayswater Exploration and Production 43 43

Baytex Energy USA LTD 21 21

BC Operating 1 46 47

Berry Oil Company 5 5

Berry Petroleum 2 45 29 76

Best Petroleum Exploration 6 6

BHP Billiton Petroleum 138 111 262 3 514

Big Star Oil & Gas LLC 19 19

Bill Barrett Corp 190 140 4 2 336

Bird Creek Resources Inc. 1 1

Black Hills Exploration and Production 1 1

Black Hills Plateau Production 1 1

Black Raven Energy 19 19

Blackbrush Oil and Gas 17 17

BLS Production 3 3

Bluestem Energy 16 16

Bluestone Natural Resources 8 8

BLX Inc 2 2

Boaz Energy LLC 1 1

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. 121 121

BP America Production Company 17 9 51 43 230 350

Brammer Engineering 1 1

Breck Operating Corporation 3 3

Bridwell Oil Co. 6 6

Brigham 9 102 2 113

BTA Oil Producers 4 4 8

Burk Royalty Co., LTD 10 10

Burlington Resources Oil and Gas 

Company 8 12 1 51 72

Burnett Oil Co., Inc. 4 4

BVX Operating Inc 5 5

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp 14 155 44 213

Callon Petroleum Company 1 1

Canan Operating, Inc. 4 4

Cannon Oil and Gas 1 1

Capstone Natural Resources, LLC 1 4 5

Carrizo Oil and Gas Inc. 30 35 56 121

Cazar Energy, Inc. 1 1

Cd Consulting and Operating Company 1 1

Chaparral Energy 10 6 2 18

Chesapeake Energy 1 1

Chesapeake Operating, Inc. 46 22 5 277 6 23 130 608 383 1414 114 61 3089

Chevron USA Inc. 21 72 62 5 102 492 9 1 764

Cheyenne Petroleum Company 22 22

Chief Oil & Gas 88 88

Choice Exploration, Inc. 2 2

Cimarex Energy Company 70 60 46 176

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Cinco Resources 7 2 9

Cirque Resources LP 3 3

Citation Oil and Gas 2 45 35 1 83

Citrus Energy Corporation 11 11

Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. 1 46 1 48

Clear Fork Inc 3 3

CML Exploration 8 8

Cobra Oil and Gas Corporation 24 24

Collins & Ware Inc 1 1

Compass 33 33

Comstock Oil & Gas 21 71 92

Concho Operating Group 4 314 318

Condor Energy 1 1

ConocoPhillips Company 17 3 60 227 346 2 655

CONSOL Energy Inc. 1 91 10 1 103

Continental Resources, Inc 8 43 291 78 1 2 423

Corinthian Exploration Corp. 5 5

Corlena Oil Company 10 10

Crescent Energy 19 2 21

Crimson Exploration Inc. 6 6

Crown Equipment Corporation 1 1

CrownQuest 128 1 129

David H. Arrington Oil and Gas 2 2

Delta CO2, LLC 2 2

Delta Oil and Gas 29 29

Denali Oil and Gas 2 2

Denbury Resources 25 25

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Devon Energy Corporation 25 25

Devon Energy Production Company L. P. 9 3 128 5 199 1027 4 51 2 1428

Diamondback E&P LLC 21 21

Diamondback Energy 12 12

Diamondback Resources LLc 1 1

Discovery Operating 6 6

DTE Gas Resources, LLC 35 35

Eagle Energy Acquisitions LP 11 11

Eagle Rock Energy 1 1

EagleRidge Energy, LLC 11 11

Edge Barnett Operating Company 1 1

EF Energy 6 6

EGL Resources, Inc. 9 9

El Paso E&P Company 13 63 30 89 27 9 231

Element Petroleum Operating, LLC 13 13

Elk Prod Uintah Llc 1 1

Elm Ridge Exploration Company, LLC 3 3

Empresa Energy LP 1 1

Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. 787 3 132 5 4 8 74 193 1206

Endeavor Energy Resources 94 94

Enduring Resources II, LLC 8 8

Energen Resources Corporation 55 1 8 21 804 889

Energy Corporation of America 35 8 43

Enerplus 24 24

EnerQuest Operating LLC 1 1

Enervest Energy Partners LP 1 1

EnerVest, Ltd. 1 11 127 5 144

Table continued on next page

116
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Entek Energy, Ltd. 2 2

EOG Resources, Inc. 37 17 13 158 33 53 87 1381 20 18 5 1822

Eor Operating Co 1 1

EP Energy 7 65 16 23 111

EP Energy E&P Company LP 3 3

EQT Production 54 43 97

Equal Energy Us Inc 3 3

Estancia Oil & Gas LLC 3 3

EV Energy Partners 14 14

EXCO Resources, Inc. 136 74 82 292

EXL Petroleum 10 10

Extex Operating Company 4 4

ExxonMobil 89 49 6 1 46 191

Fair Oil Limited 2 2

Fairway Resources 1 1 2

Fairways Exploration and Production, 

LLC 1 1

Fasken Oil and Ranch, Ltd. 114 114

FIML Natural Resources, LLC 160 160

Finley Resources, Inc. 12 3 9 24

Fivestones Energy LLC 1 1

Foree Oil Company 4 4

Forest Oil Corporation 5 4 5 43 1 58

Forge Energy LLC 8 8

Franks Operating Company, LLC 1 1

Front Range Oil & Gas 3 3

G3 Operating, LLC. 1 17 4 22

GeoResources 2 2

Table continued on next page

117
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

GeoSouthern Energy Corporation 5 5

Getty Oil Company 2 2

GMX Resources Inc 5 5

Goodrich Petroleum Company, LLC 1 24 25

Gordon Creek LLC 8 8

Gosney & Sons Inc. 1 1

Great Plains Operating LLC 1 2 3

Great Western Oil and Gas Company 76 76

Guinn Investments, Inc 1 1

Gulf Oil Corporation 3 3

Gunn Oil Company 2 2

Gunnison Energy Corporation 3 1 4

H&L Exploration Company 4 4

Hadaway Consulting and Engineering, 

LLC 2 2

Halcon Resources 2 43 45

Hannathon Petroleum LLC 6 6

Helis Oil & Gas Company, LLC 9 9

Henry Resources, LLC 78 2 80

Hess Corporation 377 20 3 33 4 437

Hibernia Resources, LLC 5 5

HighMount Exploration & Production 30 103 133

Hilcorp Energy Company 1 1

Howell Petro. Corp. 222 222

Hunt Oil Company 17 1 11 50 2 81

Huntington Energy LLC 2 2

Indigo II Louisiana Operating, LLC 1 1

Indigo Minerals 39 1 40

Table continued on next page

118
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Ironwood Oil & Gas LLC 5 5

J CLEO THOMPSON 101 101

JAMEX INC 2 2

JDL Operating, LLC 1 1

Jetta Operating Company 4 3 7

Johnson And Ernst Operating Company 6 6

Jones Energy 12 12 24

Juno Operating Company II, LLC 51 51

J-W Operating Company 28 1 5 34

K.P. Kauffman Company 18 18

Kaler Energy Corporation 1 1

Keith F. Walker Oil and Gas Company 2 2

KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP 1250 1 1251

Keystone Petroleum LP 1 1

Killam Oil Co Ltd 4 4

Kinder Morgan 2 2

Kodiak Oil & Gas Corporation 64 64

Lakota Energy Ltd 2 2

Laredo Petroleum, Inc. 13 296 309

Layline Petroleum LLC 20 20

LCS Production Company 16 16

Le Norman Operating LLC 16 2 18

LeClair Operating Co., Inc. 1 1

Legacy Reserves Operating LP 6 6

Legado Permian, LLC 13 13

Legend Natural Gas, LLC 1 48 1 50

Lewis Energy Group 78 78

Table continued on next page

119
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Lewis Operating Corporation 1 1

Liberty Resources LLC 21 21

Limestone Exploration II, LLC 1 1

Linn Energy, LLC 3 112 115

Llewellin Operating Company 1 1

Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy 1 1

Lowe Royalty Partners LP 1 1

LP Operating, LLC 2 2

M & A Oil Co Ltd 1 1

Magnet Oil 1 1

Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation 12 3 15

Marathon Oil 23 5 172 55 261 127 1 644

Mariner Energy Inc 1 1

Marlin Oil Corporation 2 2

Matador Production Company 14 14

McClure Oil Company 1 1

McElvain Energy Inc. 1 1 2

MDS Energy Development LLC 7 7

MDU Resources 10 32 8 50

Medders Oil Company, Inc 1 1

Merit Energy Company 36 36

Meritage Energy Co. 2 2

Mesa Energy Partners, LLC 7 7

Mestena Operating Ltd. 2 2

Mewbourne Oil Company 13 52 65

Midenergy Operating LLC 4 4

Midland Oil And Gas, Inc. 4 4

Table continued on next page

120
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Mid-States Operating Company 5 5

Milagro Exploration, LLC 1 1

Mitchell Energy and Development 

Corporation 1 1

Mohican Operating LLC 3 3

Molopo Energy Texas LLC 6 6

Momentum Oil & Gas LLC 1 1

Mountain V Oil & Gas 7 7

Murphy Exploration and Production 113 113

MWS Producing Inc. 6 6

Navidad Resources, LLC 7 7

New Gulf Resources, LLC 2 2 4

Newark E&P Operating, LLC 13 13

Newfield Exploration 4 46 54 56 437 597

Newfield Production Company 1 1

NFR Energy, LLC 8 1 9

NMR Energy 2 2

Noble Energy, Inc. 942 20 4 1 967

NorthStar Operating Company 1 1

Oasis Petroleum 33 69 2 104

O'Brien Energy Company 1 1

Occidental Permian Ltd 7 7

Occidental Petroleum Corporation 93 184 37 66 65 1 655 6 1107

Ohio Valley Energy Systems Corp. 1 1

Omni Oil and Gas, Inc. 230 230

Opal Resources Operating Company 18 18

Osborn Heirs Company 1 1

Overland Resources LLC 3 3

Table continued on next page

121
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

P O & G Operating LLC 5 5

Pacesetter Energy LLC 2 2

Paloma Resources 10 10

Parallel Petroleum, LLC 15 15

Parsley Energy Operations 84 84

Partee Drilling Company 4 4

Parten Operating Inc. 1 1

Patara Oil & Gas, LLC 6 2 9 17

Patriot Resources, Inc. 31 31

PDC Energy 56 17 11 84

Peak Powder River Resources LLC 1 1

Peak Resources, LLC 4 4

Pecos Operating Company LLC 5 5

Penn Virginia Oil & Gas Corporation 1 60 1 62

Pennsylvania General Energy 62 2 64

PETEX 9 9

Petroglyph Operation Company 23 23

Petrohawk Energy Corporation 8 64 4 76

Petro-Hunt, LLC 77 2 79

Petroquest Energy, Inc. 31 6 3 40

Piceance Energy LLC 2 2

Piedra Resources, Ltd. 6 6

Pioneer Natural Resources 3 80 3 1500 1586

Pitts Energy Company 5 5

Plains Exploration & Production 

Company 2 167 2 1 172

Plantation Petroleum Company Inc. 5 5

Price Operating LLC 20 20

Table continued on next page

122
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Primexx Energy Partners 7 7

Propel Energy, LLC 3 3

Prospect Energy LLC 6 6

QEP Energy Company 38 11 18 3 4 119 193

Quantum Resources Management, LLC 3 26 29

Questar 5 33 38

Quicksilver Resources, Inc. 4 23 27

Range Operating New Mexico, Inc. 2 2

Range Resources Corporation 27 277 20 90 1 415

Red Willow Production Company 1 2 3

Reliance Energy, Inc. 47 1 48

Renegade Oil and Gas 4 4

Resolute Energy 26 6 32

Rex Energy 1 41 3 45

Rice Drilling B, LLC 7 7

Ricochet Energy 3 3

Rife Energy 1 1

Riley Exploration, LLC 3 3

RIM Operating, Inc. 1 1

RK Petroleum 8 8

RKI Exploration and Production 15 1 16

Robert Bayless Producer LLC 2 2

Roff Operating Company 4 4

Roff Resources 2 2

Rosetta Resources, Inc. 5 67 72

Rosewood Resources 1 1

Royalty Land & Development 

Corporation 1 1

Table continued on next page

123
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

RSP Permian, LLC 52 52

S.B. Street Operting Inc. 6 6

Sabine Oil & Gas 3 3

Sahara Operating Company 1 1

Samson Oil & Gas Ltd 6 10 4 62 14 60 45 201

Sandalwood Oil and Gas Exploration 

and Production 1 1

SandRidge Energy 56 4 188 653 2 903

Santa Fe Energy Resources Inc. 1 1

Schlachter Operating Corporation 3 3

Seaboard Oil Company 3 3

Seaboard Operating Company 3 3

Seneca Resources Corporation 7 82 89

Sequel Energy, LLC 2 2

SG Interests Inc. 1 1

Sharp Image Energy, Inc. 2 2

Shell Exploration & Production 

Company 12 100 224 99 73 508

Silver Creek Oil & Gas, LLC 3 3

Sinclair Oil & Gas Company 1 5 6

Slawson Exploration Company, Inc. 19 23 2 1 1 46

SM Energy 2 58 10 20 162 9 2 263

Snyder Brothers, Inc. 21 21

Southern Bay Operating, L.L.C. 9 9

Southwest Royalties, Inc. 21 21

Southwestern Energy 964 1 4 71 6 1046

Stanolind Operating 1 1

Statoil 3 23 26

Table continued on next page

124
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Steller Energy and Investment 5 5

Stephens and Johnson Operating 

Company 4 1 7 12

Steward Energy, LLC 1 1

Stone Energy Corporation 21 21

Stout Energy 2 2

Strat Land Exploration Company 3 5 9 17

Suemaur Exploration and Production 

LLC 4 4

Summit Oil and Gas 2 2

Summit Petroleum 29 29

Sundance Energy 15 15

Swift Energy Company 68 1 69

Sydson Energy, Inc 1 1

Synergy Resources Corporation 41 41

Tacor Resources Inc. 3 3

Talisman Energy USA Inc. 179 111 7 297

Tanos Exploration, LLC 3 3

TAQA North Ltd. 20 20

Tecpetrol Operating LLC 16 1 17

Tekton Windsor Llc 3 3

Telesis Operating Company 1 1

Tema Oil and Gas Company 1 1

Tenneco Inc. 1 1

Texaco Inc. 12 12

Texakoma Operating 5 5

Texas Energy Operations, LLC 2 2

Texas International Operating, LLC 3 3

Table continued on next page

125
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Texas Royalty Corporation 2 2

Texland Petroleum, LP 1 21 22

Texon Oil Company 2 2

The Cumming Company 8 8

The Termo Company 1 1 2

Thompson Engineering and Production 

Company 2 2

Three Rivers Operating Company 27 27

Thums Long Beach Co 2 2

Timmerman 5 5

Titan Operating, LLC 41 41

Trap Rock Oil, Ltd. 3 3

Treadstone Energy Partners LLC 9 9

Trey Resources Inc. 2 2

Triana Energy 4 4

Triangle Petroleum Corporation 14 14

Tri-C Resources, LLC 3 3

Trilogy Resources LLC 7 7

Trio Operating Company 4 4

Trivium Operating LLC 3 3

True Oil LLC 2 2

Tug Hill Operating 6 6

Ultra Resources 1 6 144 151

Unit Petroleum 6 36 42

US Enercorp Ltd 2 2

Vaalco Energy Inc. 3 3

Valence Operating Company 20 20

Vanguard Permian LLC 1 1

Table continued on next page

126
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

Vantage Energy 1 1

Vantage Energy Appalachia LLC 4 4

Vantage Fort Worth Energy LLC 10 10

Venoco Inc. 20 20

Veritas Energy, LLC 11 11

Vintage Production of California 36 36

W&T Offshore 94 1 95

Walsh and Watts, Inc. 10 10

Walsh Petroleum 8 8

Walter Exploration Company 10 10

Wapiti Operating Llc 3 3

Ward Petroleum 11 11

Warren American Oil Company 5 5

Wellstar Corporation 3 3

WG Operating 9 9

Whiting Petroleum 19 7 24 208 175 1 1 435

William H. Lackey Oil & Gas 2 2

Williams Production 340 12 38 18 408

Willowbend Investments 4 4

Windsor Permian, LLC 8 8

Wolverine Gas & Oil Corporation 1 1

Woodbine Acquisition, LLC 11 11

Woolsey Operating Company 2 2

WPX Energy 300 49 50 7 406

XTO Energy 297 60 20 5 66 98 150 62 1092 20 23 1 6 1900

Zavanna, LLC 26 26

Table continued on next page

127
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Operator

Number of disclosures

AK AL AR CA CO KS LA MI MS MT ND NM OH OK PA TX UT VA WV WY N/A All

ZaZa Energy Services 18 18

Zenergy Operating Company 25 1 26

Note: Analysis considered 38,050 disclosures and 428 operators that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique combination of fracture date and API well 

number and fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (480).

128
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Appendix E. Reporting Requirements for States with 

Data in the Project Database

Table E-1 presents information on reporting requirements for the 20 states with data in the project

database, as of February 28, 2013. Table E-1 also shows the number of unique disclosures with 

fracture dates between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013, for each state. Fourteen of 20 

states with data in the project database enacted reporting requirements either before or during the 

time period studied in this report. Six of those states (Colorado, North Dakota, Oklahoma, 

Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah) mandated reporting to FracFocus. The other eight states required 

reporting to the state or to either the state or FracFocus. Six of the 20 states with data in the project 

database had no reporting requirements in effect prior to February 28, 2013. 

Table E-1. Reporting regulations for states with data in the project database.

State Regulatory

effective date State regulation Number of disclosures

Alabama None -- 55

Alaska None -- 37

Arkansas 1/15/2011

State Rule B-19. Applicable to wells issued a 

new drilling permit on or after effective date. 

Report to the state within 30 days of well 

completion or recompletion.

1,450

California None -- 718

Colorado 4/1/2012

State regulation Rule 205A. Applicable to all

hydraulic fracturing treatments performed on 

or after effective date. Reporting must occur 

within 60 days after the conclusion of 

fracturing, or no later than 120 days after 

commencement. Reporting is required to 

FracFocus.

4,938

Kansas None -- 136

Louisiana 10/20/2011

State regulation LAC 43:XIX.118. Applicable to 

all new wells issued an initial drilling permit 

on or after effective date. Reporting to the 

state must occur within 20 days after the 

conclusion of fracturing. Alternatively, 

reporting may be made to FracFocus or any 

other similar registry.

1,038

Michigan 6/22/2011

State Supervisor of Wells Instruction 1-2011. 

Applicable to large water withdrawals 

(average of 100,000 gallons per day over 30 

day period) on or after effective date. 

Reporting to the state must occur within 60 

days after well completion.

15

Mississippi None -- 4

Table continued on next page

129
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State Regulatory

effective date State regulation Number of disclosures

Montana 8/26/2011

State regulation 36.22.1015. Applicable to all 

treatments performed on or after effective 

date. Reporting to the state must occur upon 

well completion or treatment. Alternatively, 

reporting may be made to FracFocus.

213

New Mexico 2/15/2012

State regulation NMAC 19.15.16.19. 

Applicable to all treatments on or after 

effective date. Reporting to the state within 

45 days after completion of well.

1,162

North 

Dakota 4/1/2012

State regulation 43-02-03-27.1. Applicable to 

all treatments performed on or after 

effective date. Reporting to FracFocus must 

occur within 60 days after the conclusion of 

fracturing.

2,254

Ohio 9/10/2012

State regulation ORC 1509.10. Applicable to 

hydraulic fracturing performed on or after 

effective date. Reporting to the state must 

occur within 60 days after the conclusion of 

fracturing. Alternatively, reporting may be 

made to FracFocus or other means 

acceptable to the state.

148

Oklahoma 1/1/2013

State regulation OAC 165:10-3-10. Applicable 

to horizontal wells hydraulically fractured on 

or after effective dates. Reporting to 

FracFocus (or to the state, which will post the 

information to FracFocus) must occur within 

60 days after the conclusion of fracturing. 

Regulation effective for other wells that are 

hydraulically fractured on January 1, 2014.

1,909

Pennsylvania

2/5/2011

State statute 78.122. Applicable to wells 

completed on or after the effective date. 

Reporting to the state must occur within 30 

days after completion.

2,483

4/14/2012

State statute 58.3222 and 3222.1. Applicable 

to hydraulic fracturing of unconventional 

wells performed on or after effective date. 

Reporting to FracFocus must occur within 60 

days after conclusion of fracturing. Reporting 

is also required to the state agency within 30 

days after well completion.

Texas 2/1/2012

State regulation 16 TAC 3.29. Applicable to 

wells issued an initial drilling permit on or 

after effective date. Reporting to FracFocus 

must occur within 30 days of well completion 

or 90 days after drilling operation is 

completed (whichever is earlier). 

18,075

Table continued on next page

130
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State Regulatory

effective date State regulation Number of disclosures

Utah 11/1/2012

State regulation R649-3-39. Applicable to 

hydraulic fracturing performed on or after 

effective date. Reporting to FracFocus must 

occur within 60 days after the conclusion of 

fracturing.

1,429

Virginia None -- 90

West 

Virginia

8/29/2011

Emergency rule § 35-8. Applicable to 

horizontal wells issued permits after effective 

date and which withdraw more than 210,000 

gallons of water per month. Reporting to the 

state is required within 90 days after well 

completion.

277

12/14/2011

WV Code §§ 22-6A-7. Applicable to horizontal 

wells issued permits after effective date and 

which disturb more than three acres of 

surface or operations withdrawing more than 

210,000 gallons of water per month. 

Reporting to the state is required within 90 

days after well completion.

Wyoming 8/17/2010

State regulation Wyoming Code of Rules and 

Regs. Chapter 3. Applicable to new drilling 

permits approved on or after effective date. 

Reporting to the state prior to stimulation 

and within 30 days after completion.

1,457

Note: Analysis considered 37,888 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and with confirmed 

state location. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria were excluded from analysis (642 disclosures).

131
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Appendix F. Additive Purposes Table F-1. Number of disclosures, summarized by additive purpose categories. 

EPA-standardized additive purpose Number of disclosures Number of ingredient 

records reported as CBI 

Proppants 27,943 896

Biocides 27,057 3,339

Breakers and breaker catalysts 22,283 5,325

Friction reducers 18,935 6,618

Crosslinkers and related additives 18,353 7,137

Gelling agents and gel stabilizers 18,243 7,719

Acids 18,138 266

Corrosion inhibitors 17,824 21,519

Surfactants 17,778 21,581

Base fluid 16,112 486

Scale control 15,335 13,090

Iron control agents 13,472 1,071

Clay control 11,432 4,526

pH control 11,200 245

Non-emulsifiers 10,943 7,587

Other/Multiples 4,207 1,406

Solvents 4,115 2,551

Activators 2,652 1,031

Inhibitors 1,998 1,129

Resin curing agents 1,473 422

Clean perforations 1,373 955

Fluid foaming agents and energizers 1,262 147

Stabilizers 917 198

Viscosifiers 900 455

Reducing agent 796 4

Acid inhibitors 786 378

Fluid loss additives 604 139

Oxidizer 513 5

Emulsifiers 510 44

Oxygen scavengers 428 218

Antifoaming agents 351 349

Flow enhancers 247 91

Tracers 200 1,127

Sulfide scavengers 190 161

Sealers 136 70

Formation breakdown 87 0

Antisludge agents 57 4

Table continued on next page

132
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

EPA-standardized additive purpose Number of disclosures Number of ingredient 

records reported as CBI 

Antifreeze 45 0

Flowback control 44 64

Fluid diverters 3 3

Delaying agents 1 0

Proppant resin 1 1

Note: Analysis considered 36,544 disclosures and 1,218,003 ingredient records that met selected quality 

assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of fracture date and API well number; and 

fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013. Disclosures not meeting quality assurance criteria 

(1,986) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis.

133
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Appendix G. Most Frequently Reported Additive Ingredients for Five Selected 

Counties

Table G-1. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in Andrews County, Texas, ranked by frequency of occurrence.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

(% by mass)

Maximum concentration in additive 

(% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%)

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Methanol 67-56-1 885 (81%) 0.022 0.0014 0.11 1,570 (8.8%) 50 5.0 96

Peroxydisulfuric acid, 

diammonium salt 7727-54-0 852 (78%) 0.010 0.0017 0.045 929 (5.2%) 100 60 100

Ethylene glycol 107-21-1 765 (70%) 0.030 0.0083 0.13 959 (5.4%) 40 10 69

Glutaraldehyde 111-30-8 724 (67%) 0.013 0.0033 0.020 724 (4.0%) 15 14 30

Sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 563 (52%) 0.010 0.00013 0.028 606 (3.4%) 10 2.0 30

Potassium hydroxide 1310-58-3 544 (50%) 0.025 0.0015 0.057 554 (3.1%) 23 0.17 50

Distillates, petroleum, 

hydrotreated light 64742-47-8 527 (48%) 0.23 0.0025 0.35 671 (3.8%) 55 21 70

Tetradecyl dimethyl 

benzyl ammonium 

chloride

139-08-2 521 (48%) 0.0046 0.0012 0.0062 521 (2.9%) 5.0 5.0 5.0

Hydrochloric acid 7647-01-0 457 (42%) 0.53 0.15 4.3 486 (2.7%) 20 4.3 60

Isopropanol 67-63-0 439 (40%) 0.014 0.00038 0.35 537 (3.0%) 30 0.60 100

Water 7732-18-5 417 (38%) 1.3 0.0017 14 815 (4.6%) 72 5.0 97

Guar gum 9000-30-0 407 (37%) 0.17 0.032 0.36 407 (2.3%) 50 1.1 100

Alcohols, C12-14-

secondary, ethoxylated 84133-50-6 391 (36%) 0.026 0.0021 0.053 395 (2.2%) 70 7.0 70

Quartz 14808-60-7 363 (33%) 0.0028 0.000070 8.8 415 (2.3%) 5.0 1.0 89

Polyethylene glycol 25322-68-3 331 (30%) 0.0018 0.00016 0.0045 334 (1.9%) 5.0 0.016 5.0

2-Butoxyethanol 111-76-2 304 (28%) 0.011 0.000068 0.33 334 (1.9%) 1.1 0.10 60

Propargyl alcohol 107-19-7 290 (27%) 0.00040 0.000070 0.0049 301 (1.7%) 5.0 0.0082 35

Sodium chloride 7647-14-5 260 (24%) 0.026 0.00026 0.29 291 (1.6%) 40 0.081 100

Citric acid 77-92-9 205 (19%) 0.0078 0.0012 0.028 230 (1.3%) 70 7.0 70

Acetic acid 64-19-7 198 (18%) 0.0061 0.00000* 0.047 221 (1.2%) 50 5.0 100

* Concentration is less than a millionth of a percentage by mass.

Note: Analysis considered 1,088 disclosures and 20,716 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; with confirmed state location; with confirmed county location; valid 

CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (132) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis. A total of 880 

disclosures (77% of 1,147 disclosures that met quality assurance criteria) reported a total of 3,159 ingredient records (8.1% of 39,099 ingredient records) with information 

indicating the data were confidential business information.

134
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Table G-2. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, ranked by frequency of occurrence.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

(% by mass)

Maximum concentration in additive 

(% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%)

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Hydrochloric acid 7647-01-0 458 (93%) 0.061 0.0059 0.63 539 (9.9%) 15 1.0 20

Methanol 67-56-1 374 (76%) 0.001 0.000034 0.011 570 (10%) 40 5.0 100

Propargyl alcohol 107-19-7 357 (73%) 0.000052 0.000000* 0.00078 364 (6.7%) 10 1.0 40

Water 7732-18-5 321 (66%) 0.30 0.039 100 582 (11%) 85 40 99

Distillates, petroleum, 

hydrotreated light 64742-47-8 232 (47%) 0.016 0.010 0.033 250 (4.6%) 30 27 40

Glutaraldehyde 111-30-8 200 (41%) 0.0073 0.0013 0.030 229 (4.2%) 27 5.0 30

Citric acid 77-92-9 172 (35%) 0.00083 0.00011 0.0099 172 (3.1%) 50 30 60

2,2-Dibromo-3-

nitrilopropionamide 10222-01-2 144 (29%) 0.0046 0.0024 0.026 144 (2.6%) 10 10 100

2-Butoxyethanol 111-76-2 138 (28%) 0.000080 0.000030 0.0027 138 (2.5%) 15 5.0 40

Ethanol 64-17-5 135 (28%) 0.0015 0.00034 0.0018 135 (2.5%) 5.0 1.0 5.0

Isopropanol 67-63-0 135 (28%) 0.00042 0.000015 0.0039 140 (2.6%) 35 5.0 60

Quaternary ammonium 

compounds, benzylC12-16-alkyldimethyl, 

chlorides

68424-85-1 130 (27%) 0.0026 0.0015 0.0041 143 (2.6%) 7.0 5.5 10

Sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 126 (26%) 0.000030 0.000010 0.011 136 (2.5%) 1.0 1.0 100

Sodium erythorbate 6381-77-7 124 (25%) 0.00028 0.00013 0.0043 125 (2.3%) 100 100 100

Polyethylene glycol 25322-68-3 117 (24%) 0.023 0.0080 0.039 117 (2.1%) 70 60 70

Acetic acid 64-19-7 100 (20%) 0.0011 0.00017 0.0021 100 (1.8%) 50 50 60

Didecyl dimethyl 

ammonium chloride 7173-51-5 98 (20%) 0.0026 0.0021 0.0032 98 (1.8%) 8.0 8.0 10

Ethylene glycol 107-21-1 96 (20%) 0.0043 0.00025 0.018 132 (2.4%) 40 5.0 60

Ammonium chloride 12125-02-9 95 (19%) 0.0025 0.00070 0.0046 95 (1.7%) 5.0 1.5 10

Sodium sulfate 7757-82-6 86 (18%) 0.000040 0.000023 0.00010 86 (1.6%) 2.0 2.0 2.0

* Concentration is less than a millionth of a percentage by mass.

Note: Analysis considered 510 disclosures and 6,002 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; with confirmed state location; with confirmed county location; valid 

CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (12) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis. A total of 180 

disclosures (35% of 513 disclosures that met quality assurance criteria) reported a total of 448 ingredient records (3.6% of 12,590 ingredient records) with information 

indicating the data were confidential business information.

135
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Table G-3. Twenty-one most frequently reported additive ingredients in Dunn County, North Dakota, ranked by frequency of occurrence.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

(% by mass)

Maximum concentration in additive 

(% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%) 

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Potassium hydroxide 1310-58-3 231 (75%) 0.022 0.000000* 0.051 235 (4.2%) 15 0.25 50

Guar gum 9000-30-0 213 (69%) 0.25 0.10 0.42 231 (4.1%) 60 1.6 100

Methanol 67-56-1 200 (65%) 0.025 0.0014 0.12 378 (6.8%) 30 0.36 100

Quartz 14808-60-7 185 (60%) 0.011 0.0000020 9.4 248 (4.4%) 5.0 0.20 69

Peroxydisulfuric acid, 

diammonium salt 7727-54-0 184 (59%) 0.0037 0.000080 0.023 242 (4.3%) 100 0.016 100

Distillates, petroleum, 

hydrotreated light 64742-47-8 176 (57%) 0.18 0.0037 0.43 238 (4.3%) 43 0.56 70

Solvent naphtha, 

petroleum, heavy arom. 64742-94-5 136 (44%) 0.0047 0.000000* 0.025 137 (2.4%) 5.0 0.028 30

Water 7732-18-5 136 (44%) 0.022 0.017 87 211 (3.8%) 80 30 100

Tetrakis(hydroxymethyl) 

phosphonium sulfate 55566-30-8 127 (41%) 0.012 0.0021 0.016 130 (2.3%) 60 0.022 60

Sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 106 (34%) 0.022 0.000000* 0.093 115 (2.1%) 30 0.17 60

Carbonic acid, 

dipotassium salt 584-08-7 102 (33%) 0.069 0.022 0.19 105 (1.9%) 60 48 60

Naphthalene 91-20-3 101 (33%) 0.0014 0.000000* 0.0041 102 (1.8%) 5.0 0.0057 5.0

Formic acid, potassium 

salt 590-29-4 100 (32%) 0.065 0.0084 0.12 100 (1.8%) 60 50 60

Diatomaceous earth, 

calcined 91053-39-3 86 (28%) 0.024 0.0032 0.032 87 (1.6%) 100 100 100

Ethylene glycol 107-21-1 84 (27%) 0.037 0.0050 0.11 104 (1.9%) 30 0.70 100

Ethanol 64-17-5 78 (25%) 0.042 0.000000* 0.062 82 (1.5%) 60 30 60

Boric acid 10043-35-3 77 (25%) 0.0028 0.00065 0.025 78 (1.4%) 30 15 100

Tetramethylammonium 

chloride 75-57-0 76 (25%) 0.047 0.030 0.11 76 (1.4%) 0.43 0.28 60

Isopropanol 67-63-0 74 (24%) 0.026 0.00021 0.049 84 (1.5%) 30 0.18 60

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

(% by mass)

Maximum concentration in additive 

(% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%) 

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Nonyl phenol 

ethoxylate 9016-45-9 73 (24%) 0.0039 0.0034 0.0092 73 (1.3%) 10 8.8 10

White mineral oil, 

petroleum† 8042-47-5 73 (24%) 0.049 0.012 0.076 73 (1.3%) 100 91 100

* Concentration is less than a millionth of a percentage by mass. † White mineral oil, petroleum is included as a 21st chemical because it had the same number of disclosures as nonyl phenol ethoxylate.

Note: Analysis considered 311 disclosures and 6,450 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; with confirmed state location; with confirmed county location; valid 

CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (35) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis. A total of 258 

disclosures (80% of 323 disclosures that met quality assurance criteria) reported a total of 1,435 ingredient records (12% of 12,003 ingredient records) with information 

indicating the data were confidential business information.

137
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Table G-4. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in Garfield County, Colorado, ranked by frequency of occurrence.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

(% by mass)

Maximum ingredient concentration in additive 

(% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%)

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Ethanol 64-17-5 996 (86%) 0.025 0.00043 0.055 1,001 (6.4%) 60 5.0 60

Distillates, petroleum, 

hydrotreated light 64742-47-8 932 (80%) 0.014 0.0059 0.022 934 (6.0%) 30 30 40

Methanol 67-56-1 830 (71%) 0.0045 0.0012 0.016 1,481 (9.5%) 30 5.0 70

Solvent naphtha, 

petroleum, heavy 

arom.

64742-94-5 770 (66%) 0.019 0.0010 0.027 1,101 (7.0%) 30 5.0 30

Sodium hypochlorite 7681-52-9 759 (65%) 0.023 0.0038 0.077 985 (6.3%) 30 13 100

Sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 691 (59%) 0.0018 0.00096 0.0049 866 (5.5%) 2.0 2.0 5.0

Naphthalene 91-20-3 664 (57%) 0.0021 0.000030 0.0045 669 (4.3%) 5.0 1.0 5.0

Hydrochloric acid 7647-01-0 656 (56%) 0.037 0.010 0.078 659 (4.2%) 10 7.5 30

Sodium chloride 7647-14-5 651 (56%) 0.0059 0.000000* 0.55 677 (4.3%) 10 1.0 100

1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene 95-63-6 618 (53%) 0.00043 0.00027 0.00092 623 (4.0%) 1.0 1.0 1.0

Poly(oxy-1,2-

ethanediyl)-

nonylphenyl-hydroxy 

(mixture)

127087-87-0 617 (53%) 0.0022 0.0012 0.0085 622 (4.0%) 5.0 5.0 10

Isopropanol 67-63-0 493 (42%) 0.034 0.00011 0.044 810 (5.2%) 30 5.0 60

Acetic acid 64-19-7 397 (34%) 0.0018 0.00076 0.0028 397 (2.5%) 60 60 60

1-Benzylquinolinium 

chloride 15619-48-4 396 (34%) 0.000060 0.000028 0.000090 396 (2.5%) 10 10 10

Acetic anhydride 108-24-7 396 (34%) 0.0030 0.0013 0.0046 396 (2.5%) 100 100 100

Glutaraldehyde 111-30-8 393 (34%) 0.016 0.0066 0.016 393 (2.5%) 30 30 30

Didecyl dimethyl 

ammonium chloride 7173-51-5 336 (29%) 0.0052 0.0026 0.0055 336 (2.1%) 10 10 10

Quaternary ammonium 

compounds, benzylC12-16-alkyldimethyl, 

chlorides

68424-85-1 336 (29%) 0.0026 0.0013 0.0038 336 (2.1%) 5.0 5.0 7.0

Table continued on next page

138
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

(% by mass)

Maximum ingredient concentration in additive 

(% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%)

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Ammonium chloride 12125-02-9 331 (28%) 0.0031 0.0010 0.0074 359 (2.3%) 7.0 0.017 10

Water 7732-18-5 293 (25%) 0.050 0.0012 0.22 303 (1.9%) 100 60 100

* Concentration is less than a millionth of a percentage by mass.

Note: Analysis considered 1,166 disclosures and 17,337 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; with confirmed state location; with confirmed county location; valid 

CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (254) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis. A total of 516 

disclosures (44% of 1,169 disclosures that met quality assurance criteria) reported a total of 1,493 ingredient records (6.1% of 24,505 ingredient records) with information 

indicating the data were confidential business information.

139
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Table G-5. Twenty most frequently reported additive ingredients in Kern County, California, ranked by frequency of occurrence.

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

(% by mass)

Maximum concentration in additive 

(% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%)

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Guar gum 9000-30-0 511 (93%) 0.18 0.11 0.34 513 (5.1%) 60 0.74 60

Quartz 14808-60-7 486 (89%) 0.013 0.000010 27 979 (9.8%) 1.0 1.0 94

Water 7732-18-5 452 (83%) 0.055 0.034 80 508 (5.1%) 97 60 100

Peroxydisulfuric acid, 

diammonium salt 7727-54-0 451 (82%) 0.0062 0.0033 0.051 462 (4.6%) 100 0.15 100

Diatomaceous earth, 

calcined 91053-39-3 388 (71%) 0.012 0.00060 0.030 580 (5.8%) 60 60 100

Sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 388 (71%) 0.0099 0.0062 0.016 391 (3.9%) 10 5.0 30

Hemicellulase Enzyme 

Concentrate 9025-56-3 363 (66%) 0.0015 0.0010 0.0046 363 (3.6%) 3.0 3.0 3.0

2-Methyl-3(2H)-

isothiazolone 2682-20-4 360 (66%) 0.00011 0.000030 0.00027 360 (3.6%) 5.0 5.0 5.0

5-Chloro-2-methyl3(2H)-isothiazolone 26172-55-4 360 (66%) 0.00023 0.000060 0.00055 360 (3.6%) 10 10 10

Cristobalite 14464-46-1 360 (66%) 0.000020 0.000010 0.000060 360 (3.6%) 1.0 1.0 1.0

Magnesium chloride 7786-30-3 360 (66%) 0.00011 0.000030 0.00027 360 (3.6%) 5.0 5.0 5.0

Magnesium nitrate 10377-60-3 360 (66%) 0.00023 0.000060 0.00054 360 (3.6%) 10 10 10

Boron sodium oxide 1330-43-4 352 (64%) 0.029 0.020 0.045 352 (3.5%) 30 10 30

Ethylene glycol 107-21-1 349 (64%) 0.029 0.014 0.045 349 (3.5%) 30 30 30

1,2-Ethanediaminium, 

N, N'- bis[2-[bis(2-

hydroxyethyl) 

methylammonio] 

ethyl]- N,N'bis (2-

hydroxyethyl)-N,N'-

dimethyl-,tetrachloride

138879-94-4 339 (62%) 0.055 0.043 0.075 343 (3.4%) 60 60 60

Distillates, petroleum, 

hydrotreated light 64742-47-8 316 (58%) 0.079 0.052 0.16 318 (3.2%) 30 30 30

1-Butoxy-2-propanol 5131-66-8 311 (57%) 0.013 0.0088 0.026 311 (3.1%) 5.0 5.0 5.0

Distillates, petroleum, 

hydrotreated light 

paraffinic

64742-55-8 310 (57%) 0.080 0.054 0.16 310 (3.1%) 30 30 30

Table continued on next page

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

EPA-standardized 

chemical name CASRN

Maximum concentration in hydraulic fracturing fluid 

(% by mass)

Maximum concentration in additive 

(% by mass)

Number (%) of 

disclosures Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Number (%)

of ingredient 

records

Median 5th 

percentile

95th 

percentile

Isotridecanol, 

ethoxylated 9043-30-5 308 (56%) 0.013 0.0090 0.026 308 (3.1%) 5.0 5.0 5.0

Phosphonic acid 13598-36-2 220 (40%) 0.00021 0.000090 0.00033 220 (2.2%) 1.0 1.0 1.0

Note: Analysis considered 547 disclosures and 10,997 ingredient records that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: completely parsed; unique combination of 

fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; with confirmed state location; with confirmed county location; valid 

CASRN; and valid concentrations. Disclosures that did not meet quality assurance criteria (153) or other, query-specific criteria were excluded from analysis. A total of 523 

disclosures (79% of 666 disclosures that met quality assurance criteria) reported a total of 767 ingredient records (3.9% of 19,854 ingredient records) with information 

indicating the data were confidential business information.

141
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

Appendix H. Total Water Volumes by County

Table H-1. Total water volumes, summarized by county. 

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Colorado Weld 3,011 2,335,336,985 407,442 128,100 2,977,508

Colorado Garfield 1,355 3,624,211,889 1,707,024 695,047 8,093,060

Texas Andrews 1,171 518,991,576 91,697 29,631 1,429,964

Texas County 

Uncertain 1,049 2,441,366,185 1,306,225 25,241 6,868,724

Texas Glasscock 935 1,241,568,473 981,372 569,677 2,662,435

Utah Uintah 835 326,559,958 340,715 81,509 804,497

Texas Martin 823 937,501,845 1,099,924 494,534 1,705,162

Texas Ector 822 497,360,705 209,209 40,444 1,886,442

Texas Upton 777 974,777,378 1,216,685 30,060 1,924,754

Texas Tarrant 747 2,968,194,610 3,678,696 1,324,407 7,575,669

Texas Dimmit 715 3,938,854,414 5,322,954 3,076,202 8,709,221

California Kern 677 89,129,306 77,238 19,135 328,606

Texas Karnes 595 2,254,998,809 3,514,377 2,148,427 6,484,902

Texas La Salle 568 2,683,074,962 4,488,267 2,684,300 7,498,348

Texas Midland 530 654,029,168 1,254,809 455,722 1,892,398

North Dakota Mountrail 520 916,997,966 1,558,022 707,235 3,357,661

Pennsylvania Bradford 513 2,168,115,265 4,350,571 213,158 7,181,555

Utah Duchesne 501 183,472,997 129,079 18,228 1,297,842

North Dakota McKenzie 483 1,241,789,756 2,433,648 784,762 4,216,218

Wyoming Sublette 474 629,569,835 1,099,287 675,704 3,464,024

Louisiana De Soto 457 2,233,883,199 4,796,568 2,851,654 7,677,568

Texas Reagan 450 885,418,227 1,145,983 414,863 8,962,874

New Mexico Eddy 442 475,792,263 566,934 60,256 3,590,099

Texas Webb 439 2,294,331,122 4,983,952 1,228,471 11,178,023

North Dakota Williams 430 1,163,067,734 2,390,827 907,390 5,878,448

Arkansas Van Buren 401 1,816,523,710 4,341,724 2,455,755 7,247,129

Texas McMullen 384 1,641,511,084 3,933,824 210,720 8,545,215

Texas Montague 375 1,958,947,601 5,137,420 3,286,042 7,334,297

Pennsylvania Lycoming 361 1,498,219,767 3,877,797 1,597,625 7,475,978

Texas Ward 345 227,837,517 246,085 7,795 2,156,625

Texas Gonzales 344 1,253,423,805 3,632,223 1,890,399 5,892,711

North Dakota Dunn 331 630,097,859 2,017,621 409,803 3,361,183

Pennsylvania Susquehanna 327 1,546,179,194 4,798,290 940,909 7,816,150

Wyoming Sweetwater 321 84,850,331 229,974 79,090 435,011

Texas DeWitt 320 1,104,210,329 3,426,088 2,028,110 4,790,741

Table continued on next page

142
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Arkansas White 309 1,749,005,205 5,782,854 3,655,427 7,416,763

Arkansas Conway 302 1,596,170,693 5,266,774 2,919,365 7,957,921

Texas Gaines 298 44,087,004 79,411 18,330 269,241

Texas Wise 291 1,157,129,977 3,875,046 918,692 7,969,196

Texas Johnson 289 1,190,791,843 3,969,422 1,754,012 7,202,405

New Mexico Lea 286 244,252,238 183,645 53,235 3,730,169

Pennsylvania Tioga 286 1,132,668,079 3,598,474 2,285,636 6,572,202

Texas Howard 286 219,523,127 895,986 26,018 1,523,373

Texas Irion 284 945,564,352 895,468 45,494 11,729,639

Texas Wheeler 283 1,773,621,591 6,292,608 879,360 12,398,544

Texas Mitchell 278 22,018,458 30,402 14,154 88,003

Arkansas Cleburne 263 1,489,329,655 5,974,108 3,401,011 7,538,336

Texas Denton 263 934,748,202 1,836,744 1,014,405 9,008,399

Texas Reeves 263 352,616,549 1,081,442 104,447 3,865,365

Texas Milam 254 9,844,030 16,000 16,000 18,900

Texas Crane 245 196,718,764 175,308 26,277 2,794,840

Wyoming Natrona 226 3,663,585 5,648 5,032 7,685

Pennsylvania Washington 223 867,457,663 3,358,519 2,553,790 7,031,557

Oklahoma Alfalfa 199 385,043,193 1,865,304 1,266,922 2,923,830

Texas Yoakum 190 16,252,142 65,966 26,097 138,354

New Mexico San Juan 188 24,032,553 72,200 19,998 476,978

Texas Live Oak 182 612,387,421 3,334,502 1,992,043 4,466,792

Texas Cooke 178 930,155,506 5,361,300 1,791,556 7,915,538

Oklahoma Roger Mills 177 490,227,227 2,488,248 662,273 4,991,475

New Mexico Rio Arriba 174 33,138,782 114,732 24,531 452,176

Oklahoma Woods 166 327,924,769 1,916,477 1,306,536 2,664,942

Oklahoma Ellis 165 398,559,056 2,301,505 732,749 4,023,155

State 

Uncertain

County 

Uncertain 158 488,083,669 2,770,090 80,067 6,945,958

Oklahoma Canadian 158 966,487,571 6,340,910 3,045,404 8,472,344

Pennsylvania Greene 157 781,556,032 4,305,363 2,433,957 10,493,381

Texas Loving 155 282,297,269 1,517,208 56,095 4,341,797

Louisiana Red River 153 1,139,265,130 7,179,763 4,293,341 11,653,648

Colorado Las Animas 146 15,768,503 95,974 20,424 260,255

Texas Parker 144 554,945,907 3,665,336 1,340,232 7,112,669

Colorado Rio Blanco 143 294,677,269 2,248,291 96,911 3,232,073

Texas Panola 143 696,572,353 3,804,948 26,987 14,494,738

Texas Atascosa 137 694,264,027 4,089,792 2,289,300 9,904,570

Texas Hemphill 136 549,108,685 3,059,675 460,143 7,574,170

Table continued on next page

143
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

North Dakota Divide 133 212,401,131 1,580,796 678,912 2,536,918

Louisiana Sabine 129 790,459,623 6,424,656 3,557,957 9,120,145

North Dakota County 

Uncertain 126 274,188,475 1,986,598 376,173 3,555,922

Oklahoma County 

Uncertain 115 354,593,378 1,654,044 16,796 9,930,348

Texas Freestone 113 108,863,226 784,482 151,016 2,485,651

Texas Crockett 107 596,159,001 6,882,549 64,223 10,739,690

Arkansas Faulkner 106 567,953,587 5,289,045 3,204,945 8,067,928

Oklahoma Pittsburg 106 756,599,235 6,939,435 3,607,478 11,799,127

Montana Richland 104 173,612,043 1,604,648 359,501 3,211,767

Wyoming Converse 98 230,123,849 2,303,838 866,463 4,693,910

Oklahoma Washita 95 215,800,796 2,510,928 320,170 3,201,844

Texas Lipscomb 92 182,722,458 1,482,313 312,653 4,038,008

Oklahoma Grant 89 165,254,145 1,792,535 1,490,734 2,219,473

Pennsylvania Westmoreland 89 413,919,647 4,382,954 2,602,314 7,766,369

Texas Nacogdoches 89 543,371,967 6,478,122 190,003 10,899,353

Wyoming Fremont 85 56,372,038 273,651 13,706 1,875,955

Oklahoma Dewey 82 331,068,664 3,774,240 790,768 6,455,102

Louisiana Caddo 80 311,083,907 4,010,916 167,521 6,956,650

Oklahoma Blaine 79 414,164,933 5,109,410 2,743,823 8,789,371

Ohio Carroll 78 334,774,734 4,104,765 3,127,692 5,738,399

Texas Robertson 75 92,251,731 739,196 148,897 3,382,029

Texas Ochiltree 71 71,885,269 852,457 358,029 2,179,675

Texas Schleicher 69 54,035,392 93,282 23,663 4,415,300

North Dakota Burke 68 130,039,568 2,181,879 92,238 2,916,078

North Dakota Stark 67 97,818,062 1,485,580 687,725 1,903,938

Louisiana County 

Uncertain 65 417,334,020 6,099,364 2,141,777 12,166,446

Pennsylvania Fayette 65 243,844,255 3,614,704 1,982,122 5,899,561

Texas Frio 61 256,406,734 4,248,636 1,424,183 6,901,482

Texas Jack 61 36,154,895 414,918 25,200 2,594,283

Utah Carbon 60 14,656,123 234,643 122,492 363,483

Oklahoma Beckham 59 221,343,112 3,231,150 87,765 8,214,126

Pennsylvania Wyoming 59 319,383,314 5,360,166 1,131,136 9,250,744

Louisiana Bienville 56 217,714,155 4,514,531 86,517 6,986,721

Texas Roberts 56 80,958,031 1,203,233 40,661 3,316,569

Wyoming Park 56 1,802,669 28,412 15,488 41,300

Texas Hidalgo 55 17,112,033 287,654 77,524 647,891

Table continued on next page

144
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Oklahoma Grady 54 253,307,556 4,864,995 73,199 7,757,636

Pennsylvania Butler 53 256,960,489 4,748,310 3,075,507 7,167,812

Texas San Augustine 53 364,221,026 6,307,110 1,748,771 12,199,824

Texas Crosby 51 2,808,045 58,296 36,905 78,430

Montana Roosevelt 50 110,068,800 2,427,634 860,538 3,227,131

Pennsylvania Clearfield 50 222,985,275 4,219,803 2,721,829 7,109,046

Texas Zavala 50 273,942,903 6,147,960 3,163,445 7,218,131

Texas Harrison 49 293,540,779 5,717,723 875,642 10,451,956

Oklahoma Carter 48 340,585,434 8,224,986 37,298 8,983,229

Wyoming Carbon 48 8,909,624 182,173 70,660 285,534

North Dakota Billings 47 88,868,499 2,149,224 732,783 2,819,213

Texas Hood 47 163,449,153 3,402,126 1,926,744 5,561,762

Pennsylvania Armstrong 46 126,190,783 171,396 101,966 6,931,090

Texas Wilson 46 174,790,616 3,822,813 1,434,854 5,635,023

West Virginia Ohio 45 245,169,636 5,509,812 3,406,789 7,881,980

Pennsylvania Clinton 44 188,730,732 4,257,620 2,798,770 5,723,557

Texas Dawson 44 42,668,983 1,133,139 43,394 1,457,678

Louisiana Bossier 42 220,225,439 5,269,992 92,427 8,328,128

Texas Winkler 42 15,930,828 103,501 12,115 1,638,809

Wyoming County 

Uncertain 41 6,508,970 129,640 6,550 305,735

Colorado Larimer 40 10,832,123 224,906 71,698 470,367

Colorado La Plata 39 6,967,007 196,744 36,136 227,087

Texas Madison 39 99,968,464 2,378,670 431,446 4,848,839

Texas Stephens 39 5,270,482 71,484 6,002 214,294

Pennsylvania Sullivan 38 140,540,343 4,009,971 943,893 5,851,066

Texas Leon 38 112,445,340 2,709,214 165,049 7,517,538

Texas Starr 37 10,683,140 255,412 58,081 531,802

Alaska North Slope (the 

borough of) 37 13,150,891 88,448 36,437 435,638

Texas Borden 36 15,968,027 111,756 22,427 1,357,392

Virginia Buchanan 36 1,267,707 33,243 20,559 52,605

West Virginia Marshall 36 168,954,993 4,596,144 3,217,379 6,367,568

Alabama Jefferson 35 1,157,495 33,335 22,668 40,846

Texas Shelby 35 277,531,622 6,327,720 88,089 17,230,326

Texas Sterling 35 86,577,074 345,374 160,584 10,062,476

Virginia Dickenson 34 1,562,380 37,430 16,865 113,089

West Virginia Doddridge 34 180,858,468 5,281,962 2,200,764 7,939,842

Texas Culberson 32 83,961,631 2,515,323 40,181 5,496,785

Table continued on next page

145
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Montana Sheridan 31 21,734,049 410,690 236,019 1,712,485

Oklahoma Noble 31 67,438,727 2,166,133 854,988 3,423,273

West Virginia Marion 31 140,220,776 4,718,028 2,231,481 6,620,712

Oklahoma Coal 30 180,062,029 4,824,002 246,744 11,560,111

Texas Kleberg 30 7,048,508 223,965 49,495 488,846

Texas Medina 30 505,485 17,031 14,868 19,099

Texas Pecos 30 16,588,529 139,020 61,410 1,960,109

Texas Rusk 30 141,023,149 4,837,499 29,078 9,800,251

Kansas Comanche 29 53,072,084 1,796,122 1,064,162 2,616,347

New Mexico Colfax 29 1,470,173 38,640 1,054 113,820

Oklahoma Marshall 29 221,714,808 8,006,838 5,420,209 9,310,417

Texas Terry 29 14,987,507 173,754 30,441 3,220,820

West Virginia Wetzel 29 156,461,105 5,288,881 3,922,061 7,170,799

Arkansas Independence 28 160,687,548 5,588,037 4,208,795 7,447,169

Oklahoma Beaver 28 58,081,436 2,328,146 109,363 2,960,234

Wyoming Campbell 28 27,762,544 964,350 166,791 2,092,830

Texas Lavaca 27 103,054,135 4,329,321 39,991 6,242,700

Texas Scurry 27 6,853,945 41,118 19,265 493,856

Colorado County 

Uncertain 26 45,171,994 2,118,956 122,484 3,175,880

Texas Stonewall 26 1,785,353 38,391 17,042 198,744

West Virginia Brooke 26 109,537,029 4,222,596 3,128,344 5,722,616

Texas Brooks 25 3,179,142 93,450 42,428 326,259

Texas Wilbarger 25 345,979 14,791 4,368 21,216

Colorado Broomfield 24 9,046,089 397,068 295,096 421,458

Colorado Yuma 24 733,530 29,673 25,626 36,582

Colorado Boulder 23 8,258,548 410,424 129,738 422,881

Kansas Harper 23 36,664,604 1,839,936 47,855 2,551,977

Ohio Columbiana 23 69,107,766 3,213,420 1,709,912 3,850,190

Pennsylvania McKean 23 120,961,008 5,758,704 456,830 8,030,157

Texas Hockley 23 6,058,250 27,578 19,971 274,995

Wyoming Laramie 23 36,626,308 1,561,077 77,990 3,326,760

Oklahoma Stephens 22 63,381,549 1,664,689 38,529 7,941,127

Pennsylvania County 

Uncertain 22 84,860,930 4,219,781 984,400 5,973,536

Texas Wichita 22 305,152 11,290 2,564 25,568

Arkansas County 

Uncertain 21 114,187,387 5,816,748 3,386,662 6,923,322

New Mexico Harding 21 219,163 6,048 4,662 8,694

Table continued on next page

146
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Alabama Tuscaloosa 20 907,701 45,255 35,353 57,480

Texas Limestone 20 21,484,098 645,913 163,792 3,583,703

Colorado Mesa 19 244,114,104 14,542,836 444,333 22,609,230

North Dakota Mclean 19 24,325,679 1,177,851 675,033 1,958,939

Oklahoma Caddo 19 50,903,859 3,955,052 41,756 5,098,028

West Virginia Taylor 19 105,771,236 5,849,046 3,646,583 7,669,007

Colorado Adams 18 6,504,057 211,902 46,661 880,173

Louisiana Beauregard 18 4,763,121 225,936 62,555 532,135

Oklahoma Harper 17 17,614,411 1,266,798 23,226 1,713,123

West Virginia Upshur 17 69,820,643 4,081,094 643,516 7,880,985

Ohio Jefferson 16 66,343,492 4,257,225 2,942,478 5,471,193

Oklahoma Kay 16 42,971,113 2,746,611 1,411,278 3,847,714

Pennsylvania Beaver 16 64,700,812 3,677,835 309,456 8,591,746

Texas Maverick 16 104,761,837 7,381,269 2,363,809 9,588,600

Texas San Patricio 16 2,120,580 70,539 23,457 369,348

West Virginia Harrison 16 98,359,628 5,923,491 4,334,106 8,748,747

California Sutter 15 373,086 20,622 12,046 40,900

Colorado Phillips 15 346,374 23,100 22,890 23,264

Pennsylvania Centre 15 76,929,372 5,663,806 2,431,605 6,406,011

Texas Cochran 15 5,959,787 316,176 20,152 827,270

Texas Palo Pinto 15 20,579,492 620,510 139,033 3,155,617

Utah County 

Uncertain 15 9,138,125 772,448 79,276 1,134,760

Kansas Barber 14 19,858,588 1,436,880 212,300 2,260,322

Kansas Haskell 14 205,387 12,306 8,620 24,215

New Mexico County 

Uncertain 14 2,351,840 61,383 21,544 624,674

Oklahoma Custer 14 38,094,335 2,510,865 1,119,405 4,325,305

Oklahoma Pawnee 14 31,321,465 2,317,287 1,375,338 2,850,122

Pennsylvania Elk 14 74,994,059 5,337,218 3,910,733 6,608,196

Texas Oldham 14 2,752,335 195,751 99,457 338,459

Texas Zapata 14 2,344,265 168,845 43,197 374,312

Kansas County 

Uncertain 13 7,730,168 104,971 12,029 2,031,354

Texas Bee 13 39,984,197 3,413,242 1,278,998 4,225,536

Texas Houston 13 23,865,860 1,743,168 599,830 3,109,102

Wyoming Hot Springs 13 537,703 41,948 34,372 46,919

California Ventura 12 3,597,475 350,642 48,682 518,445

Colorado Moffat 12 29,096,450 138,711 22,841 13,201,470

Table continued on next page

147
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Montana Glacier 12 10,241,652 950,581 46,805 1,589,657

Ohio Harrison 12 50,031,353 4,058,040 3,447,473 5,102,299

Texas Grayson 12 18,556,255 515,193 5,678 4,773,123

Kansas Finney 11 4,835,816 13,188 10,059 2,333,068

Pennsylvania Lawrence 11 53,944,488 4,144,434 2,668,953 10,003,861

Texas Fayette 11 27,381,679 2,297,402 482,811 4,430,664

Texas Hutchinson 11 630,263 55,772 40,469 79,461

Texas Nolan 11 9,094,250 65,600 15,701 4,334,946

Wyoming Lincoln 11 1,546,099 132,976 107,553 194,334

Arkansas Logan 10 4,767,333 185,451 31,370 1,302,000

Oklahoma Hughes 10 61,080,038 6,028,764 4,663,997 7,603,304

Oklahoma Johnston 10 74,444,034 7,866,033 5,653,253 8,375,373

Pennsylvania Indiana 10 32,371,373 3,323,237 1,051,461 5,060,509

Texas Fisher 10 11,899,478 64,416 31,895 5,949,028

Texas Hansford 10 5,769,487 85,920 9,824 2,437,602

Texas Sutton 10 3,130,092 88,452 26,678 1,418,926

Oklahoma Latimer 9 1,190,337 132,750 58,479 245,112

Pennsylvania Allegheny 9 27,247,149 2,834,574 2,389,479 4,223,652

Pennsylvania Potter 9 32,966,493 4,210,510 2,386,660 4,603,434

Texas Sabine 9 62,217,624 6,447,042 5,435,480 9,144,929

Utah San Juan 9 510,880 54,739 25,469 104,540

Wyoming Uinta 9 1,172,285 137,313 103,664 153,696

Texas Archer 8 308,847 21,653 1,000 119,221

Texas Brazos 8 25,800,462 2,731,726 781,841 5,760,135

Texas Coke 8 11,989,003 91,686 37,289 7,450,787

Texas Gregg 8 18,754,840 2,230,473 186,877 4,466,825

Texas Montgomery 8 471,869 58,611 45,614 75,174

California County 

Uncertain 7 808,494 106,176 70,897 168,278

Oklahoma Garvin 7 34,777,900 4,801,914 3,734,442 6,484,745

Oklahoma Kingfisher 7 26,868,858 3,046,680 1,871,734 6,396,409

Texas Erath 7 1,682,982 270,186 101,039 329,339

Texas Grimes 7 30,986,483 2,703,960 1,745,520 12,057,746

Virginia Wise 7 190,722 29,946 9,043 39,421

West Virginia Barbour 7 39,824,792 5,299,900 2,721,541 8,103,067

Colorado Morgan 6 7,705,597 21,766 18,462 4,144,234

Colorado San Miguel 6 570,386 88,618 24,107 179,672

Kansas Morton 6 78,104 11,424 7,709 22,457

Louisiana Natchitoches 6 25,340,370 4,163,259 1,517,208 6,944,319

Table continued on next page

148
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Louisiana Webster 6 2,317,926 273,395 54,306 840,096

Montana County 

Uncertain 6 11,894,148 2,515,023 225,288 3,028,253

Montana Rosebud 6 7,027,827 1,072,667 836,642 1,763,954

North Dakota Golden Valley 6 9,148,766 1,514,858 1,123,363 1,980,707

Oklahoma Bryan 6 20,568,752 2,242,258 122,955 8,047,494

Oklahoma Logan 6 8,439,674 498,015 43,493 3,690,810

Oklahoma Major 6 2,389,800 356,034 215,492 667,853

Texas Newton 6 625,073 77,241 62,387 211,680

Texas Orange 6 684,146 105,385 88,559 167,470

Wyoming Big Horn 6 5,765,641 55,162 12,381 2,953,715

Wyoming Goshen 6 11,555,075 2,000,185 285,903 3,526,013

Colorado Jackson 5 1,915,902 326,830 61,733 663,932

North Dakota Bottineau 5 479,974 97,744 83,732 108,279

Pennsylvania Jefferson 5 27,574,346 5,302,920 4,801,747 6,469,091

Texas Burleson 5 6,071,020 1,154,644 1,054,014 1,522,626

Texas Haskell 5 169,100 32,394 7,115 60,191

Texas Potter 5 855,385 176,538 123,606 210,865

Texas Runnels 5 68,082 6,930 5,888 31,542

Texas Washington 5 5,307,569 936,726 336,941 1,930,527

Michigan Gladwin 4 2,157,052 360,827 14,730 1,313,607

Michigan Kalkaska 4 47,996,702 10,511,866 6,250,906 19,829,679

Michigan Missaukee 4 87,660 21,971 18,272 25,480

Oklahoma Le Flore 4 513,318 128,066 98,134 158,894

Oklahoma Oklahoma 4 2,317,560 463,008 462,126 859,589

Oklahoma Payne 4 19,797,691 4,734,292 3,989,483 6,210,545

Oklahoma Texas 4 149,766 22,302 7,256 88,822

Texas Austin 4 4,159,098 1,163,621 147,045 1,759,120

Texas Hardeman 4 716,148 215,661 60,175 246,626

Texas Kent 4 899,295 19,326 10,983 726,362

Texas Lynn 4 2,278,945 415,474 97,330 1,258,110

West Virginia County 

Uncertain 4 19,386,108 4,514,832 3,182,953 6,974,474

California Colusa 3 61,614 15,162 13,612 31,227

California Los Angeles 3 437,350 143,892 127,112 165,778

Colorado Arapahoe 3 7,947,553 2,580,173 2,430,678 2,915,999

Colorado Delta 3 1,071,931 490,320 109,451 512,063

Kansas Clark 3 1,557,336 45,864 44,730 1,324,768

Kansas Gray 3 6,518,606 2,227,926 1,882,288 2,424,909

Table continued on next page

149
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Kansas Hodgeman 3 5,475,838 1,839,978 1,790,202 1,850,068

Louisiana East Feliciana 3 7,323,225 3,087,995 536,804 3,892,502

Louisiana Union 3 9,721,910 180,586 74,089 8,549,220

Mississippi Amite 3 28,706,118 11,916,618 4,746,676 12,747,197

New Mexico Chaves 3 5,558,331 1,772,439 1,406,084 2,355,707

Ohio Guernsey 3 16,806,622 5,205,007 3,182,721 8,299,734

Oklahoma Osage 3 7,680,204 2,847,348 1,476,002 3,443,038

Pennsylvania Blair 3 11,814,180 3,628,968 3,551,365 4,541,120

Pennsylvania Clarion 3 16,245,996 5,128,302 4,612,694 6,418,891

Pennsylvania Forest 3 15,439,662 4,062,366 4,040,555 7,011,484

Pennsylvania Somerset 3 11,510,817 2,978,576 2,710,144 5,564,588

Texas Dallas 3 11,267,802 3,716,580 3,716,315 3,823,100

Texas Garza 3 1,175,632 27,174 23,772 1,015,275

Texas Kenedy 3 487,536 128,478 65,125 283,723

Texas Nueces 3 2,001,377 141,690 104,748 1,597,309

Texas Polk 3 388,072 115,786 115,113 153,102

Texas Somervell 3 9,651,992 3,283,022 3,068,408 3,320,269

Texas Van Zandt 3 275,610 93,626 88,362 94,149

Texas Walker 3 6,757,968 1,766,352 621,163 4,224,562

West Virginia Preston 3 16,839,606 5,566,722 5,552,471 5,706,469

Arkansas Sebastian 2 1,257,652 628,826 194,392 1,063,260

Colorado Fremont 2 1,178,755 589,378 63,886 1,114,869

Kansas Grant 2 308,196 154,098 152,359 155,837

Kansas Ness 2 3,291,918 1,645,959 1,304,682 1,987,236

Kansas Seward 2 27,782 13,891 13,258 14,524

Kansas Stanton 2 21,672 10,836 10,685 10,987

Louisiana Calcasieu 2 140,231 70,116 40,572 99,659

Louisiana Jackson 2 31,731 15,866 3,365 28,366

Louisiana Lincoln 2 6,627,470 3,313,735 2,375,712 4,251,758

Montana Daniels 2 1,280,951 640,476 403,146 877,805

Ohio Noble 2 16,634,545 8,317,273 7,767,089 8,867,456

Ohio Tuscarawas 2 13,470,465 6,735,233 5,553,163 7,917,302

Oklahoma McClain 2 4,133,534 2,066,767 1,033,703 3,099,831

Pennsylvania Cameron 2 13,246,674 6,623,337 5,046,907 8,199,767

Pennsylvania Columbia 2 11,253,084 5,626,542 4,225,750 7,027,334

Pennsylvania Venango 2 4,885,144 2,442,572 577,880 4,307,264

Pennsylvania Warren 2 4,694,917 2,347,459 296,766 4,398,151

Texas Ellis 2 8,320,032 4,160,016 3,673,341 4,646,691

Table continued on next page

150
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Texas Hardin 2 245,322 122,661 95,993 149,329

Texas Hartley 2 3,889,590 1,944,795 263,049 3,626,541

Texas Jim Hogg 2 252,728 126,364 69,028 183,700

Texas King 2 19,278 9,639 9,545 9,734

Texas Lee 2 2,338,433 1,169,217 1,111,741 1,226,692

Texas Marion 2 11,877,776 5,938,888 5,684,831 6,192,945

Texas Smith 2 413,170 206,585 154,079 259,091

Texas Terrell 2 221,625 110,813 103,115 118,510

Texas Upshur 2 462,828 231,414 114,818 348,010

Texas Waller 2 229,891 114,946 106,473 123,418

Texas Wharton 2 90,173 45,087 35,202 54,971

Texas Willacy 2 220,164 110,082 84,000 136,164

Texas Wood 2 345,995 172,998 58,585 287,410

Texas Young 2 136,836 68,418 11,605 125,231

West Virginia Monongalia 2 13,665,036 6,832,518 6,545,503 7,119,533

West Virginia Ritchie 2 12,994,464 6,497,232 5,775,554 7,218,910

West Virginia Webster 2 4,504,584 2,252,292 2,246,017 2,258,567

Wyoming Niobrara 2 194,418 97,209 92,012 102,407

Arkansas Franklin 1 6,384 6,384 6,384 6,384

Arkansas Yell 1 29,946 29,946 29,946 29,946

California Glenn 1 31,752 31,752 31,752 31,752

Colorado Dolores 1 107,969 107,969 107,969 107,969

Colorado Elbert 1 39,215 39,215 39,215 39,215

Colorado El Paso 1 55,019 55,019 55,019 55,019

Colorado Routt 1 142,372 142,372 142,372 142,372

Kansas Ford 1 1,797,019 1,797,019 1,797,019 1,797,019

Kansas Kearny 1 18,942 18,942 18,942 18,942

Kansas Lane 1 1,645,896 1,645,896 1,645,896 1,645,896

Kansas Meade 1 20,286 20,286 20,286 20,286

Kansas Sheridan 1 1,474,872 1,474,872 1,474,872 1,474,872

Kansas Stevens 1 124,291 124,291 124,291 124,291

Kansas Sumner 1 455,532 455,532 455,532 455,532

Louisiana Allen 1 172,116 172,116 172,116 172,116

Louisiana Caldwell 1 40,110 40,110 40,110 40,110

Louisiana Claiborne 1 7,603,184 7,603,184 7,603,184 7,603,184

Louisiana Rapides 1 3,388,095 3,388,095 3,388,095 3,388,095

Louisiana Tangipahoa 1 3,823,858 3,823,858 3,823,858 3,823,858

Louisiana West Feliciana 1 4,605,619 4,605,619 4,605,619 4,605,619

Table continued on next page

151
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Louisiana Winn 1 2,150,872 2,150,872 2,150,872 2,150,872

Michigan Cheboygan 1 33,306 33,306 33,306 33,306

Michigan Ogemaw 1 20,701 20,701 20,701 20,701

Michigan Roscommon 1 4,804,620 4,804,620 4,804,620 4,804,620

Mississippi Wilkinson 1 6,430,629 6,430,629 6,430,629 6,430,629

Montana Garfield 1 927,438 927,438 927,438 927,438

Montana Musselshell 1 713,908 713,908 713,908 713,908

New Mexico Roosevelt 1 79,212 79,212 79,212 79,212

New Mexico Sandoval 1 792,616 792,616 792,616 792,616

Ohio Ashland 1 2,932,422 2,932,422 2,932,422 2,932,422

Ohio Belmont 1 3,778,068 3,778,068 3,778,068 3,778,068

Ohio Coshocton 1 10,816,646 10,816,646 10,816,646 10,816,646

Ohio Knox 1 2,204,454 2,204,454 2,204,454 2,204,454

Ohio Medina 1 2,572,682 2,572,682 2,572,682 2,572,682

Ohio Muskingum 1 10,170,198 10,170,198 10,170,198 10,170,198

Ohio Portage 1 6,415,458 6,415,458 6,415,458 6,415,458

Ohio Stark 1 4,752,384 4,752,384 4,752,384 4,752,384

Ohio Summit 1 94,537 94,537 94,537 94,537

Ohio Wayne 1 3,309,559 3,309,559 3,309,559 3,309,559

Oklahoma Jefferson 1 4,620 4,620 4,620 4,620

Oklahoma Kiowa 1 216,871 216,871 216,871 216,871

Oklahoma Love 1 8,708,742 8,708,742 8,708,742 8,708,742

Oklahoma Seminole 1 187,740 187,740 187,740 187,740

Pennsylvania Crawford 1 4,803,563 4,803,563 4,803,563 4,803,563

Pennsylvania Huntingdon 1 5,325,418 5,325,418 5,325,418 5,325,418

Texas Angelina 1 1,542,275 1,542,275 1,542,275 1,542,275

Texas Bosque 1 1,444,143 1,444,143 1,444,143 1,444,143

Texas Cherokee 1 1,025,574 1,025,574 1,025,574 1,025,574

Texas Clay 1 25,536 25,536 25,536 25,536

Texas Colorado 1 104,244 104,244 104,244 104,244

Texas Concho 1 29,946 29,946 29,946 29,946

Texas Cottle 1 671,286 671,286 671,286 671,286

Texas Edwards 1 91,350 91,350 91,350 91,350

Texas Franklin 1 13,524 13,524 13,524 13,524

Texas Goliad 1 44,226 44,226 44,226 44,226

Texas Jefferson 1 77,291 77,291 77,291 77,291

Texas Jones 1 56,667 56,667 56,667 56,667

Texas Knox 1 17,178 17,178 17,178 17,178

Table continued on next page

152
Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

State County Number of 

disclosures 

Cumulative

total water 

volume

(gallons)

Total water volume per disclosure 

(gallons)

Median 5th

percentile 

95th

percentile 

Texas Liberty 1 58,668 58,668 58,668 58,668

Texas Menard 1 15,708 15,708 15,708 15,708

Texas Moore 1 37,026 37,026 37,026 37,026

Texas Navarro 1 9,606,805 9,606,805 9,606,805 9,606,805

Texas Sherman 1 67,171 67,171 67,171 67,171

Texas Tyler 1 216,174 216,174 216,174 216,174

Utah Sevier 1 77,859 77,859 77,859 77,859

West Virginia Hancock 1 2,420,124 2,420,124 2,420,124 2,420,124

West Virginia Lewis 1 4,737,978 4,737,978 4,737,978 4,737,978

West Virginia Pleasants 1 32,340 32,340 32,340 32,340

West Virginia Tyler 1 4,168,710 4,168,710 4,168,710 4,168,710

Wyoming Johnson 1 68,250 68,250 68,250 68,250

Wyoming Washakie 1 2,146,866 2,146,866 2,146,866 2,146,866

Entire Dataset 37,796 91,805,425,640 1,508,724 29,526 7,196,702

Note: Analysis considered 37,796 disclosures that met selected quality assurance criteria, including: unique combination 

of fracture date and API well number; fracture date between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2013; and criteria for 

water volumes. Disclosures that did not meet these criteria were excluded from analysis (734).

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Analysis of Data from FracFocus 1.0 March 2015

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155
EPA/601/R-14/003 l March 2015 l www.epa.gov/hfstudy

Office of Research and Development (8101R)

Washington, DC 20460

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use

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POSTAGE & FEES PAID

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PERMIT NO. G-35