Fracking occurs across more than a dozen U.S. states and several countries worldwide, but the activity is heavily concentrated in a handful of prolific shale formations. In the United States, horizontal wells produced 94% of oil and 92% of natural gas in the lower 48 states as of December 2024, making fracking the dominant method of fossil fuel extraction in the country. Here’s where it’s happening and why those locations matter.
The Biggest U.S. Fracking Regions
Three regions produce almost two-thirds of all U.S. crude oil: the Permian Basin, the Eagle Ford, and the Bakken. The Permian Basin, spanning western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, is by far the largest. In 2024, it accounted for 48% of total U.S. crude oil production, averaging 6.3 million barrels per day. That figure rose by 370,000 barrels per day compared to 2023, meaning the Permian was responsible for nearly all of the country’s production growth.
The Eagle Ford play sits in southern Texas and is a major source of both oil and natural gas. The Bakken formation stretches across western North Dakota and eastern Montana (and into the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba). Both regions have seen intense drilling activity for over a decade, though neither rivals the Permian’s sheer output.
The Marcellus Shale and Natural Gas
For natural gas, the Marcellus Shale is the most productive formation in the country. It extends from New York in the north to Kentucky and Tennessee in the south, covering roughly 95,000 square miles across the Appalachian Basin. Active production occurs in four states: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and New York. Pennsylvania is the center of gravity, with tens of thousands of wells drilled since the shale boom began in the late 2000s.
The broader Appalachian Basin also includes parts of Kentucky. Other significant natural gas plays include the Haynesville in Louisiana and East Texas, and the Utica Shale, which underlies much of the same territory as the Marcellus but sits deeper underground.
Which States Have Banned Fracking
As of 2024, five U.S. states have outright banned fracking: Vermont (2012), Maryland (2017), Washington (2019), New York (2020), and California (2024). New York’s ban is notable because the Marcellus Shale extends into the state, meaning there are confirmed reserves that remain off-limits to drilling. Vermont’s ban was largely symbolic since the state has minimal fossil fuel resources.
Beyond state-level bans, many individual cities and counties in producing states have adopted their own restrictions. In Texas, for example, the state permits drilling within 200 feet of a dwelling, but most municipalities in the Barnett Shale region of Denton County set longer distances, ranging from 300 to 1,500 feet. Across 31 states reviewed, required setback distances from buildings ranged from 100 feet to 1,000 feet, with 300 and 500 feet being the most common. Eleven states had no building setback requirements at all.
Where Fracking Happens Outside the U.S.
Canada is the second-largest fracking nation and has used the technique commercially since the mid-1960s. Active Canadian plays include the Montney and Duvernay in Alberta, the Montney and Horn River in British Columbia, and the Bakken in Saskatchewan. Quebec has maintained a de facto moratorium, so production is concentrated in the western provinces.
China completed its first horizontal shale gas well in 2011 and had drilled 200 by 2014. Its technically recoverable shale gas reserves are estimated to be almost 50% larger than those of the United States, making it the world leader in potential resources. Ukraine has also pursued fracking, with approximately 22 companies engaged in hydraulic fracturing since 2011. The country holds the third-largest shale gas reserves in Europe, estimated at 128 trillion cubic feet.
Argentina’s Vaca Muerta formation is another major global play, and smaller operations exist in several other countries. Poland has aggressively explored its reserves, thought to be the largest in Europe, though revised estimates came in significantly lower than early projections.
Countries That Have Banned Fracking
Several nations have prohibited the practice entirely. France banned fracking in 2011 after public pressure, becoming one of the first countries to do so. Germany passed a ban in 2016, with limited exceptions for scientific research. Ireland banned fracking onshore and within its internal waters. In the United Kingdom, Scotland made its fracking ban permanent in 2018, and England imposed a moratorium in 2019. Tunisia has also banned the practice.
What Makes a Location Suitable for Fracking
Fracking isn’t possible just anywhere. The technique targets shale rock formations that contain oil or gas trapped in tiny pores. These formations need specific characteristics: enough organic material to have generated hydrocarbons over millions of years, sufficient depth (typically 5,000 feet or more) to create the pressure conditions that make extraction worthwhile, and a mineral composition that responds well to fracturing.
Rocks with higher quartz content tend to be more brittle, meaning they crack more cleanly when pressurized fluid is pumped in. That brittleness creates a network of fractures through which oil or gas can flow to the wellbore. Clay-rich shales, by contrast, tend to absorb pressure rather than cracking, making them less productive. The porosity of shale formations varies considerably, from around 5% to over 13% even within a single formation, and higher porosity generally means more stored hydrocarbons available for extraction.
This is why fracking is geographically clustered rather than spread evenly across oil-producing regions. Only formations with the right combination of depth, mineral content, organic richness, and brittleness make commercial production viable. The Permian Basin, Marcellus Shale, and Bakken all share these favorable geological traits, which is why they’ve attracted the most drilling activity.