The Frackers

The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters

By: Gregory Zuckerman

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Everyone knew it was crazy to try to extract oil and natural gas buried in shale rock deep below the ground. Everyone, that is, except a few reckless wildcatters - who risked their careers to prove the world wrong. Things looked grim for American energy in 2006. Oil production was in steep decline and natural gas was hard to find. The Iraq War threatened the nation’s already tenuous relations with the Middle East. China was rapidly industrializing and competing for resources. Major oil companies had just about given up on new discoveries on U.S. soil, and a new energy crisis seemed likely.

But a handful of men believed everything was about to change. Far from the limelight, Aubrey McClendon, Harold Hamm, Mark Papa, and other wildcatters were determined to tap massive deposits of oil and gas that Exxon, Chevron, and other giants had dismissed as a waste of time. By experimenting with hydraulic fracturing through extremely dense shale - a process now known as fracking - the wildcatters started a revolution. In just a few years, they solved America’s dependence on imported energy, triggered a global environmental controversy - and made and lost astonishing fortunes.

No one understands these men better than the award-winning Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman. His exclusive access enabled him to get close to the frackers and chronicle the untold story of how they transformed the nation and the world. The result is a dramatic stretching from the barren fields of North Dakota and the rolling hills of northeastern Pennsylvania to cluttered pickup trucks in Texas and tense Wall Street boardrooms.

Activists argue that the same methods that are creating so much new energy are also harming our water supply and threatening environmental chaos. The Frackers tells the story of the angry opposition unleashed by this revolution and explores just how dangerous fracking really is.

©2013 Gregory Zuckerman (P)2013 Gildan Media LLC

A detailed but narrowly focused business history

This book should be viewed as a corporate history of the US firms that brought hydraulic fracturing to prominence. In this goal, it's rather detailed. That said, if you're looking for a detailed or well documented discussion of the energy industry broadly or the role of energy policy, you should look elsewhere. The final chapter attempts to tackle some of these topics, but the discussion is limited/not very nuanced, and feels tacked on. The narration is also rather dry.

What is Fracking? This book will help you learn.

This is a very interesting and educational book. What is fracking? Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a method of obtaining natural gas and oil from shale. Basically, a well is drilled, and hydraulic fluid is pumped into the well at great pressure to fracture the shale and release the gas and oil which is then pumped to the surface. There are many controversies and opinions about fracking. Most of the opinions are just that opinions and very little scientific research exists to support conclusions one way or the other at this time. However, I highly recommend that you read this book and learn about fracking and the wildcatters who developed the technology.

Incredible timing for this audiobook...

I was listening at the time of Aubrey Mcclendon's indictment and death. Very interesting book.

Good twice and was in the business

Rent and oil and gas company, Flynn, oil, and gas draw four and 50 shallow wells in western New York and Pennsylvania. Enjoy the book.

Balanced approach on controversial topic

In my estimation, this book does a good job walking the tight rope between "drill baby, drill!" and environmental concerns involved in the process of getting natural gas and crude oil from shale. I'm sure that many environmentalists will think that the author spends too little time addressing the ecological concerns and too much celebrating the figures that brought it in to being.

The history of Fracking as this book lays it out is very interesting. We learn that Fracking isn't a result of Big Oil on their quest for increased global dominance, but rather the small time operators trying new approaches and technologies to make their humble operations profitable.

My only major issue with the book is the timing. The story over fracking is still unfolding and it's impact on the global scene, local communities and the environment hasn't even come close to being realized yet. Due to that, the book's narrative fizzles out at the end. I was more interested in the first 2/3 than the final 1/3. I'm also not sure why Charif Souki, with Cheniere Energy is profiled in the book so extensively other than his interesting back story.

Great read

Great read. Great story. Zuckerman is a powerful writer. His last book was also awesome

Frackers

The timeline and the interweaving of these characters trying to reach success and achieve the American Dream. Most of the players didn’t know each other personally while competing for the same areas of exploration yet using each others technology to maximize production.

Excellent Book but Mispronunciations Abound!

A true story of good ol' American ingenuity solving problems to make a buck and in the process did away with the concept "peak oil". The narrator is excellent and very easy to listen to, but there was a fatal flaw. I cringed every time he said Chiniere or Schlumberger. Mr. Pratt, please look up the pronunciations before you go and narrate and entire book and mispronounce the names of the primary companies in the book. Chiniere is pronounced shin'-uh-ree not shin-aire'. Being connected with the oil industry, these names are available on the internet or just listen to CNBC for a few hours and you'll hear these pronounced correctly. Chiniere is pronounced shin'-uh-ree, not shin-aire'. Shlumberger is pronounced shlum'-ber-zhay not shlum'-burger. Otherwise, the story is fascinating, and the author did a fantastic job of showing a few pieces of the puzzle of how the process of fracking opened new energy to the US in a modern equivalent of finding the new world.

The best history of fracking

The book has been edited in such a way as to make it totally understandable
The narrator is very smooth, a pleasure to listen too.

Intriguing story

Very well done history of early Fracking, the players and the companies. Well presented and captivating