IHRDC Logo

Discover the IHRDC Energy Glossarybeta

Search or select a letter above to browse the glossary.

Hydraulic Fracturing

The fracturing of rock by a pressurized liquid. A completion technique (commonly known as fracking) in which typically water is mixed with sand (proppant) and chemicals, and the mixture is injected at high pressure into a wellbore to create small fractures (typically less than 1mm) through which oil and gas may migrate to the well. In use since the 1940s.