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Hydraulic fracturing operation outside Rifle, in western Colorado
Image: Brennan Linsley/AP Photo/picture allianceImage: Brennan Linsley/AP Photo/picture alliance

Fracking

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique to extract gas from rock. But people living close to fracking sites are concerned about the impact of toxic chemicals used in the process.

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All Content on this topic

USA Fracking Öl-/Gasbohrung

New York to ban fracking

New York state governor Andrew Cuomo has said an existing ban on hydraulic fracturing will be extended after a review found unresolved health risks and unclear economic benefits of the widely-used drilling technique.
December 18, 2014

Brent at a bargain: China ups oil imports

Falling oil prices are a double blessing for Beijing but a continuing reliance on imports would be a fatal error for China, says DW columnist Frank Sieren.
December 12, 2014
Kohleminen Alberta

Living Planet: Fracking and ill health

Alberta residents take fracking head on, Italy’s olive oil production is hit hard, the myth of New York City’s rats revealed, and could legalizing rhino horn trade help save the species from poaching?
December 11, 201429:59 min
Fracking Alberta

Canada's fracking province

In Canada's Alberta province residents have grown used to the sound of constant drilling and fracking. Fracking (hydraulic fracturing) is a technique used to remove gas or oil from shale rock. But it’s a controversial practice. While gases continue to burn off the thousand-odd hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells, locals are blaming a litany of health complaints on fracking air pollution.
December 11, 201408:29 min
Oil field

Low oil price halts investment

Plummeting oil prices have forced producers to suspend multibillion-dollar projects and call off the search for new fields. Analysts say OPEC will have to stop drilling to stabilize the market.
December 5, 2014
Polen Fracking Öl

UK shale gas fund

The UK has said it would set up a wealth fund from future proceeds from fracking.
December 3, 2014
Ölfässer

How powerful is OPEC?

Ahead of Thursday's meeting, DW examines how much power OPEC really has to control oil prices.
November 26, 2014
Saudi-Arabien Energie Ölraffinerie

Oil price war?

The drop in the oil price means the upcoming OPEC summit could be the most interesting in years. Although the oil-producing countries don't have a common line, conspiracy theorists suggest they're using oil as a weapon.
November 26, 2014
Saudi-Arabien Energie Ölraffinerie

US energy boom under threat

Oil prices have slumped recently as the world's biggest oil producers refuse to cut output. The drop is undermining the US shale oil industry's profits, soon after it made the US the world's number 1 oil producer.
November 25, 2014

Plunging prices for oil

Crude oil prices are in free fall. Even with wars and conflicts taking place in many oil-producing countries, the price of crude has dropped about 30 percent in the past months.
BusinessNovember 18, 201402:57 min
Protestplakat gegen Fracking

Divided over fracking

Fracking could prolong fossil fuels and reduce dependence on imports. But what are the risks?
October 31, 2014
external

Major economist talks carbon cuts

Economist Jeffrey Sachs has advised major world governments on their finances. He's head of the Earth Institute - and, on the heels of a major United Nations climate summit, he tells us about deep carbon reduction and what it means for the world economy.
BusinessSeptember 24, 201404:03 min
climate march New York City

UN Climate Summit

Activists hope for clear words from US President Obama at the climate summit in New York.
September 22, 2014
A drilling rig exploring for shale gas in Poland

Experts slam fracking

Germany’s Federal Environmental Agency says the risks associated with fracking are too big.
July 30, 2014
Fracking facility

Fracking in Britain?

New bidding for licenses to explore for shale gas in the United Kingdom has begun, ending a three-year hiatus. Britain is looking to reduce its reliance on foreign energy imports.
July 28, 2014
Fracking site in Pennsylvania, US

Sieren's China

Fracking is at least as important for China as it is for the USA, writes DW columnist Frank Sieren.
July 11, 2014
Pungesti shale gas exploration site in Romania

Greenpeace vs Romania fracking

Greenpeace activists have staged a protest outside a controversial shale gas exploration site in Romania. They insisted the use of fracking technologies could harm the environment there.
July 7, 2014
A sign "don't Frack with our water" stands in a field

Fracking ban debate

The government has presented its plans for 'fracking,' which is rejected by the opposition.
July 7, 2014
USA fracking oil

German ban on fracking?

Germany should outlaw fracking for natural gas and oil if it occurs at a depth shallower than 3,000 meters, according to a government policy paper. If adopted, the ban would be in place until 2021.
July 4, 2014
An oil field in Texas

US loosens oil exports ban

The United States has taken the first step toward lifting a decades-old ban on the sale of unrefined oil abroad. The decision could be a boon for an industry that has seen fuel prices drop amid a surge in natural gas.
June 25, 2014

Siemens Restructuring - What’s to become of the Erlangen site?

Siemens’ plans for cost-cutting and restructuring are likely to cost several thousand jobs, with its Erlangen site possibly the hardest hit. The facility there is the base of the company’s energy and medicine segments. What impact would the restructuring of Siemens have on the region?
BusinessJune 24, 201403:28 min

Alternative Fracking - Environmental risk or economic opportunity?

Employees at Central European Petroleum avoid using the word "fracking." The company is in the process of testing in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to see whether an oil extraction site that already exists can be further exploited by hydraulic "stimulation." Greenpeace calls the proposition irresponsible. Alarmed by critical reports from the US, local residents fear the consequences.
BusinessMay 13, 201404:30 min
Belchatow power station

Resisting renewables

With a focus on nuclear, gas and coal, renewable energy remains on the margins in Poland.
April 29, 2014
A pipeline with two gas taps (Photo: Fotolia/pixel-kraft)

Alternatives to Russian gas

Germany depends on gas deliveries from Russia and there are no real alternatives in sight.
April 17, 2014

Canada: The controversial Keystone XL Pipeline

For years, environmental activists have been fighting plans to build an oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Now the project could be about to get the green light.
PoliticsApril 14, 201406:34 min
USA gracking

Energy as foreign policy

Can the US help countries like Ukraine by exporting natural gas?
March 11, 2014
A dolphin baby

Living Planet

We visit the shores of a dolphin killing cove in Japan and follow an anti-fracking movement in western Canada.
February 6, 201429:58 min
Diana Daunheimer in her home in Alberta, Canada

Fracking nightmare

Diana Daunheimer is fighting companies that are fracking almost in her backyard.
February 6, 2014

Health scare over backyard fracking in Canada

An increasing number of locals sue fracking companies for compensation.
BusinessFebruary 5, 201409:13 min
external

Cameron's fracking support irks greens

Geologists estimate that British shale gas reserves could supply its natural gas needs for decades. So-called fracking could unlock much more gas than older methods – but environmentalists are strongly opposed.
January 14, 201401:06 min
A man looks at an exploratory oil shale drilling PIERRE ANDRIEU/AFP/Getty Images

No fracking in France

France's Constitutional Council has thrown out corporate complaints against a national anti-fracking law in place since July 2011. The ruling came as a setback for a US company hoping to tap shale gas and oil deposits.
October 11, 2013
external

Britain: Fighting Fracking

British Prime Minister David Cameron is a proponent of fracking, a highly controversial method used to extract oil and gas reserves located underground.
PoliticsSeptember 25, 201305:09 min

The debate over fracking becomes fractious in the UK

The UK government looks enviously at the US shale gas revolution: the rebirth of energy intensive industries, the plummeting price of natural gas and the boost to economic growth. David Cameron would love a piece of that kind of action. But getting his people to support fracking is not easy. There have been protests at a small test drilling site. Stephen Beard reports on the Battle of Balcombe.
August 25, 201304:57 min

Fracking protest continues in Britain

A month-long standoff over shale gas extraction continues in rural England. The British government views fracking as the key to an energy revolution that would create jobs and lower energy prices. But environmentalists say fracking can trigger small earthquakes and pollute water supplies.
ScienceAugust 22, 201304:53 min

Living Planet

Ecuador lifts a ban on oil drilling in Yasuni, jellyfish swarm the waters of southern Europe and farmers fight anti-pesticide activists in the fields of Argentina.
ScienceAugust 22, 201329:59 min
A natural gas well pad sits in front of the Roan Plateau near Rifle, Co.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

The US energy revolution

An American dream would come true: studies show the US could grow free from energy imports by 2030.
July 27, 2013
10.07.2013 Wirtschaft Kompakt Fracking

Exploratory fracking

Most Poles are supportive of efforts to search for shale gas.
July 10, 201302:18 min

Polish farmers protest against fracking

Two years ago, the US Energy Information Administration estimated that there could be as much as 5.3 trillion cubic metres of gas in Poland, just waiting to be fracked, a reserve which could cover domestic demand for up to 300 years they said. But local farmers have clashed with energy company Chevron over environmental concerns. Paul Rimple reports from the Eastern Polish town of Zuravlov.
June 28, 201304:19 min
Occupy Chevron 04: Police arrive after protesters confront a survey crew that attempted to survey the property line of the concession. Locals claim the survey was carried out illegally, as surveyors must notify all property owners 2 weeks prior to conducting the work.

No to shale gas

Fracking is big business. One Polish community is fighting off a big multinational to save its town.
June 27, 2013
Michael Beckereit at a conference on Fracking Photo: Bodo Marks/dpa

Germans oppose fracking

Germans are concerned about the risks of fracking, a method to produce oil and gas.
June 1, 2013
BASF, Aufnahmen vom -und um das BASF, Chemiekonzern, bei Nacht , Nachtaufnahmen

Curse of energy costs

High energy costs may drive German firms to United States, biz associations claim.
May 22, 2013

Spain opts out on fracking

Fracking involves pumping liquids deep into the earth in order to extract natural gas from shale rock. It's deeply controversial. Britain has just lifted a moratorium on fracking, while France and Bulgaria have banned it. The debate has been particularly intense in Spain.
ScienceMay 16, 201305:06 min

Risky Business: The Fracking Controversy

Many countries welcome fracking - a gas extraction technique - as a chance to revolutionize their energy industries. But Germany is skeptical, seeing this relatively new technology as environmentally hazardous. Is it wasting an opportunity to reduce dependency on gas imports?
PoliticsMarch 14, 201305:11 min
Fracking test drills by ExxonMobil in Germany Photo: Ingo Wagner dpa/lni (zu lni 0915 vom 23.02.2012) +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++

German draft law on fracking

Media reports have said the government in Berlin has agreed on a draft bill regulating the use of controversial hydraulic fracturing technologies in Germany, also known as fracking. There will be many restrictions.
February 26, 2013

Germany rules out gas fracking

The German environment minister has said the extraction of natural gas using so-called fracking technology wouldn't start any time soon in Germany. He has announced that laws will be stiffened rather than softened.
February 11, 2013
A woman covers her face with a sign that reads "stop fracking" (Photo:Vadim Ghirda/AP/dapd)

Fracking fiction

A controversial source of energy extraction was a dominant fictional force in 2012.
December 27, 2012
Signs in DuBois, Pennsylvania Copyright: Janosch Delcker / DW

Natural gas boom

Investors are buying up natural gas sites in the US, hoping for big profits in exports.
December 17, 2012
The RWE Dea drill outside of Verkusen, half an hour's drive from Bremen.

German energy dispute

Germany's nuclear phaseout has triggered a fight between gas drillers and the renewables sector.
December 13, 2012
Christine Todd Whitman

Climate-conscious Republican

Former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman talks about the US' and Germany's environmental records.
November 27, 2012
An unidentified worker steps through the maze of hoses being used at a remote fracking site being run by Halliburton for natural-gas producer Williams in Rulison, Colorado.

Fracking regulation

In the US, when and where to regulate fracking is as divisive as the technique itself.
October 18, 2012