Baker Hughes to Plan to Disclose Fracking Chemicals
Published by Jack Hunter – April 25, 2014
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Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) plans to disclose all of the chemicals used in the rock-cracking technique used to unlock oil and natural gas from underground.
The world's third-largest oilfield services provider hasn't disclosed all of the ingredients used in fracking fluids in the past, citing competitive reasons, Melanie Kania, a spokeswoman for the Houston-based company, said today in a phone interview.
"It's actually going to take several months for the policy to go into effect," she said. "We still need to go into negotiations with suppliers, customers, and get all of our systems up to date."
Hydraulic fracturing pumps water, sand and chemicals underground to fracture rock and allow trapped oil and gas to flow to the wellbore. The technique, coupled with horizontal drilling, has led the U.S. on the path to energy independence.
Baker Hughes has been working to change its policy "for some time," including holding private discussions with its engineers and suppliers to make sure it could disclose all of the chemicals, Kania said.
Susie McMichael, a spokeswoman for Halliburton Co. (HAL), and Joao Felix, a spokesman for Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB), couldn't immediately comment on Baker Hughes's disclosure plans. Schlumberger is the world's largest oilfield services provider and Halliburton is No. 2.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Wethe in Houston at dwethe@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net Ben Livesey, Stephen West