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Changes ahead for fracking?

The controversial process of fracking could soon undergo a transformation, thanks to some made-in-Lacombe technology.

The controversial process of fracking could soon undergo a transformation, thanks to some made-in-Lacombe technology.

NEXT Legacy Technologies Inc. has developed an alternative to conventional hydraulic fracturing, which uses a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals to squeeze oil and gas out of underground formations. NEXT is marketing a product that it claims achieves superior results, uses far less water, requires no toxic chemicals and doesn’t depend on pump pressure.

“It’s going to have a profound impact on the oil and gas industry,” said NEXT CEO Darren Wiltse, who owns the company with a handful of other shareholders.

One of those shareholders is a Lacombe resident with a background in the oilpatch service sector.

The man, who doesn’t want to be identified, invented the NEXT process after coming up with the idea more than a decades ago.

Wiltse, a mechanical engineer with 30 years in the oil and gas sector, got behind the initiative several years ago and has been pushing it forward since.

The resulting product has now been used in 36 wells, and NEXT has a contract with one major oil and gas producer and is in discussion with others.

It’s also nearing completion of a commercial-scale blending plant northwest of Lacombe, which will serve as the company’s operational centre.

There, an assortment of compounds — the identity of which will be kept a closely guarded secret — will be mixed in drums and transported to well sites.

Once injected into a frac zone with a small quantity of water, the material reacts with the reservoir rock to produce exothermic (heat) and kinetic (mechanical) energy.

This in turn creates fissures and fractures in the rock, allowing oil or gas to flow to the wellbore.

The name NEXT is derived from the term “non-hydraulic exothermic/kinetic energy technology.”

Wiltse said the process is superior to hydraulic fracturing in several respects, including the nine ingredients that go into the material it uses.

“They’re 100 per cent organic and non-toxic, and this has been verified by a third-party lab.”

He added that much less water is required — about 40 litres per frac stage as compared with tens of thousands of litres in the case of conventional techniques. The fractures extend much further, their direction and distance can be controlled, and the manpower and equipment needed are vastly reduced.

In fact, a small crew with a couple small vehicles can frac multiple wells per day.

“We don’t use any pressure-pumping equipment at all,” said Wiltse.

The process is flexible, he said, and suitable for conventional and unconventional wells; vertical, directional and horizontal bores; oil and gas plays; and new and existing wells.

The exothermic reaction can also be used to free subsurface bitumen in oilsands, and as a replacement for hot oil or acid in wellbore cleanups, he added.

Wiltse also described how a separate application is being developed, whereby the hardened compound could be used for well-cementing and even in general construction.

That’s because it’s much lighter, stronger and harder than conventional cement, and insulates better.

“The possibilities of where this technology will take us are mind-boggling.”

Additional information about NEXT Legacy Technologies Inc. and its fracking process can be found on the company’s website at www.next-tech.ca.

hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com