Fracking: viabilidad económica y ambiental en Colombia[Fracking: Economic and Environmental Viability in Colombia]

Knowing the value of the development of the hydrocarbons exploitation to sustain the finances of the Colombian economy is of vital importance to understand how nonconventional extraction techniques, such as Fracking, can be an alternative for growth and a complement the country's energy matrix. In this sense, it is convenient to evaluate in detail the multiple economic and environmental consequences brought about by the application of such techniques, which can be magnified in a context such as the Colombian one. This document reviews the history of oil extraction in Colombia over the last two decades, focusing mainly on how development would be affected by the implementation of hydraulic fracturing techniques for the exploitation of non-conventional oil deposits. The main objective of the article is to show how this technique works and the arguments for and against its implementation; it reviews the experience of the United States and aims to predict what effects will have in social, economic and environmental matters for the country.