Courtesy of bakerhughes.com

Baker Hughes plans to disclose all of the chemicals used in its hydraulic fracturing fluids.

Baker Hughes hasn’t disclosed all of the ingredients used in fracturing fluids in the past, citing competitive reasons, Melanie Kania, a spokeswoman for the Houston-based company, said in a phone interview.

“It’s actually going to take several months for the policy to go into effect,” she said. “We still need to go into negotiations with suppliers, customers, etcetera, and get all of our systems up to date.”

Hydraulic fracturing, coupled with horizontal drilling, has led the U.S. on the path to energy independence.

In response to public concern about fracing, the website FracFocus was created for oil companies to voluntarily disclose their ingredients. Environmental groups complained that companies could still keep confidential too many of their chemicals.

Baker Hughes has been working to change its policy “for some time,” including holding private discussions with its engineers and suppliers to make sure it could disclose all of the chemicals, Kania said.

Susie McMichael, a spokeswoman for Halliburton Co., and Joao Felix, a spokesman for Schlumberger, couldn’t immediately comment on Baker Hughes’ disclosure plans.

Schlumberger is the world’s largest oilfield services provider and Halliburton is No. 2.

Source: worldoil.com