Squirting fluid that made hydraulic fracturing work two years ago down the same old fractured well may not be the surest way to make a buck in an industry eager to turn a profit. Then again, the folks in the lab and in the field might be onto something. The desire to charm hydrocarbons from the ground without the expense of additional drilling is strong and has lingered for decades. Re-fracking has been in practice, with mixed results, on vertical wells for years. It’s only in the last few years that engineers have started returning to the source of all those hydraulically fractured wells with re-fracking. Most estimates indicate it costs $8 million to drill and complete a new well. Re-fracking a well costs about 25 percent of that figure, which is enticing some of the largest oilfield services companies into the lab. But exactly what “best practices” might […]