In December , the Fed began raising interest rates. Lenders became less willing to roll over debt. As a result, many shale companies desperately pumped enough oil to make their monthly debt payments. They did this no matter how low prices got, even sacrificing profitability. Smaller companies, such as Sandridge Energy Inc.
Eventually, low prices caught up with the industry. Many stopped drilling. In October , about half were sitting idle. Dozens filed for bankruptcy , and 55, workers were laid off. But the EIA accurately predicted that oil prices would rise again in time.
The field is roughly the size of West Virginia and, as of December , produced , barrels of oil a day. Although production started to take off in , levels doubled by Horizontal wells provide 95 percent of production.
As a result, North Dakota extracts more oil than Alaska. It's closing in on the 2 million barrels a day produced by Texas. In 20 years, its number of wells could increase from the current 8, to at least 40, Part of the reason for expansion is that each well runs dry after about two years.
Oil is trapped in pockets that don't hold as much oil as traditional wells. But in total, the field could contain almost 4 billion barrels of shale oil. Geological Survey estimates there are million barrels in undiscovered reserves. Drillers are searching for both oil and natural gas. The Utica field in Ohio has anywhere from 1. So far, the oil reserve is still being explored.
The largest U. It has four times the oil as the Bakken Field in North Dakota. Its 1,square-mile area contains It's about two-thirds of the nation's total shale reserves. But the California shale oil is much more difficult to extract than the Bakken. Its geological formation requires more intensive fracking and deeper horizontal drilling. That's a concern in a state that lies on the San Andreas fault. However, the report considered only resources that were deemed technically recoverable -- meaning those that can be extracted using current exploration and production technology -- without taking into account cost and profitability.
It further left out prospective shale areas, such as those underneath major oilfields in the Middle East and the Caspian Sea region, and cautioned that its estimates are "highly uncertain. North American success with shale Though the new estimates are encouraging, there are a few important points to consider. First and foremost, it's unclear whether North American success in shale drilling can be replicated around the world. Thus far, only the U. The main reason for this has been the large-scale application of new technologies, such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," that have allowed producers to more easily coax oil and gas from dense rock formations.
Though oilfield services firm Halliburton NYSE:HAL was the first company to use hydraulic fracturing commercially to recover oil and gas all the way back in , the practice didn't become widespread until just about half a decade ago. Q is one company using the technique in popular oil plays, such as Texas' Eagle Ford, where it has been met with considerable success. Some companies are even finding innovative new ways to power their fracking operations.
Can North American shale success be copied? However, it's unclear whether U. In addition to having pioneered new drilling technologies, U. Chief among them is the presence of a sophisticated and extensive infrastructure network, consisting mainly of pipelines and storage terminals.
In addition, U. Discounted offers are only available to new members. The Bakken Tight Oil Play after a year of low oil prices. The nation's top oil play after more than a year of low oil prices. Assessing the EIA's projections for U.
The most thorough analysis of U. The landmark report on the dim prospects for unconventional fuels ushering in a new era of energy abundance in North America. This report shatters the myth that U. False Promises. The Reality. Latest Update. Previous Reports. Drilling Deeper The most thorough analysis of U.
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