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Employees and contractors at our Brae platform add profitable production from the North Sea. Other core regions include the U.S., Canada and Equatorial Guinea.

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Marathon assets, such as those in the Bakken and Eagle Ford plays, are indicative of our steady growth and the exciting opportunities that are yet to come.

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Pablo Ondo Zetmayer, a gas plant operator in Equatorial Guinea, is a prime example of Marathon’s globally diverse workforce, which enjoys worldwide experiences and world-class opportunities.

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Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," has been safely used to stimulate production in more than one million oil and gas wells over the past 60 years. Recent advances in the method have helped free oil and gas locked in tight shale rock formations across the U.S. These include the Bakken (North Dakota), Eagle Ford (South Texas), Haynesville (East Texas) and Anadarko Woodford (Oklahoma) shale formations where Marathon has operations.

Now, hydraulic fracturing is poised to turn shale gas into a global resource. We are addressing concerns about this process, which will be vital to Marathon in Poland and possibly elsewhere in our worldwide operations.

Fracking increases the rate at which oil and gas are released from reservoir rock and the ultimate recovery of hydrocarbon reserves. The process involves pumping frack fluid through perforations in production casing into the wellbore at high pressures. Frack fluid is generally a mixture containing approximately 90 percent water, 9.5 percent sand, and 0.5 percent gels, foams and/or other chemicals. The high pressure creates fractures in the rock formation. Sand wedged into these cracks keeps them open so hydrocarbons can be released into the wellbore and produced to the surface.

The primary environmental concerns include:

Preventing spills and water contamination through management of fracture fluids returned to the surface (flowback).
The large quantities of water needed in the process, especially in water-stressed areas.
The chemicals used in frack fluids and their potential impacts on groundwater if the casing or cementing fails.

Marathon is working closely with our partners, suppliers and contractors to address these concerns.

According to a U.S. EPA study released in 2004, lack of wellbore integrity is the main cause of confirmed cases of water contamination from oil and gas activity. To prevent water contamination, Marathon's hydraulic fracture treatments are designed for specific well site and reservoir conditions and are conducted using rigid engineering controls. They are typically performed on wells with true vertical depths greater than 5,000 feet, well below most fresh water sources.
We ensure that the wellbore is structurally sound and that no leaks exist, protecting groundwater sources.
We isolate wellbore fluids from groundwater using casing and cement.
We can monitor the pressure between casing strings to detect potential leaks. This allows us to act immediately and appropriately if a leak occurs.
We run cement evaluation logs on casing strings to analyze the quality of the cement job around them, further ensuring that drinking water is protected on each well.
To reduce water use, Marathon is testing methods of recycling flowback fluids and reusing produced water.
We participate in a website (www.fracfocus.org) that publicly discloses frack fluid components in specific wells.
Marathon complies with all regulations covering water disposal and audits disposal sites to ensure they have adequate capacity.

In addition, Marathon is working with government officials and others to ensure that proper regulatory frameworks are in place to protect the environment during fracking.