Opinion ID: 6346804
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Well stimulation treatments

Text: Well stimulation treatments include oil extraction techniques that allow oil production to continue from wells with declining reservoirs. These practices prolong drilling operations, and expand total production, by enabling oil companies to extract oil otherwise unreachable using conventional drilling methods. The well stimulation treatments at issue in this case primarily consist of hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as fracking), which involves injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into a well at an extremely high pressure to fracture the rock formation. 3 Well stimulation treatments pose a variety of risks. Not all of the chemicals used in well stimulation treatments have been studied, but the known chemicals include carcinogens, mutagens, toxins, and endocrine disruptors. These chemicals can harm aquatic animals and other wildlife in the areas where well stimulation treatments are used. Well stimulation treatments also emit pollutants, including carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, into the air. And the high pressures used in these treatments can increase the risk 3 This case also involves the use of acid fracturing and matrix acidizing. Acid fracturing is similar to fracking but involves applying an acid solution at a high pressure to etch channels into the rock. Matrix acidizing involves injecting a mixture of acids to dissolve the rock, rather than fracture it. All three types of treatments make it easier for oil and gas to pass through the subterranean rock for extraction. EDC V. BOEM 25 of oil spills, especially because well stimulation treatments are often used on old wells. Enhanced well life and increased production thus come with a potential environmental price.