The controversial practice of fracking has turned a number of landowners in the US state of Texas into overnight multi-millionaires.
In recent years, this new technique has changed the whole reality of natural gas acquisition in the US. Access has been opened up to vast reserves of gas contained in shale rock.
Areas of parched Texas, traditionally home to people on very limited incomes, have been transformed into some of the most affluent parts of the US as owners lease the mineral rights to their land to oil companies in exchange for millions of dollars.
Fracking refers to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing shale rock in order to liberate small pockets of oil and gas. Two weeks are required to drill each well and another two to blast it with a pressurised mix of water, acid and sand to break the rocks around the well.
Such is the frenzy that wells are going down rapidly, bringing jobs and a degree of prosperity to the communities as well as the individuals.
New services and new schools have boosted the area, but the infrastructure of the small towns remains inadequate for the needs of all the workers flowing in.
Hundreds of migrant workers put up with cramped but expensive accommodation to make good money, if they can tolerate working in blistering heat. The boom’s duration may be short-lived which means that investors are reluctant to increase the housing stock.
But it is not yet known if there will be any long-term damage to the environment. There are fears that fracking could poison water tables or cause earthquakes, but the industry is too new to know.
In exchange for the benefits local people have to accept a round the clock flow of oil tankers, sand and water lorries, and a network of drilling rigs, fracking rigs, refineries, and gas flares.
With the influx of so many manual workers, there has been a concomitant increase in crime, prostitution and drug use as well as the overall costs of living for petrol ironically, food, and housing.
Locals remember that the crash of 2008 brought everything to a standstill. All the money and activity are based on oil prices of at least $72 a barrel. Should the price drop below that, all development is likely to stop.
