unconventional drilling

Estimates of how much oil or natural gas are “technically” or “economically” recoverable are moving targets. Until just a few years ago, the hydrocarbon-producing potential of the Bakken, the Permian and the Marcellus were vastly underestimated—hardly anyone would have wagered in 1995 that North Dakota, West Texas and northeastern Pennsylvania would emerge as oil and gas hotspots. So what are we to make of California’s Monterey tight oil play, which as recently as 2011 was hailed as the next big thing for tight-oil production, but which is now on just about no one’s mind? Today, we consider what it might take to turn a hydrocarbon frog into a prince.

Over the past five years exploitation of abundant gas and oil bearing shale basin formations by combining and augmenting two long-standing technologies has revolutionized North American energy markets. If you are at all involved in the energy industry you know that these technologies – horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing - are bigger than Bieber right now. Maybe bigger than Taylor Swift. Today we explain how they work and why they are so important.