Daniel J. Soeder
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, USA
Title: The successful development of shale gas and tight oil resources in North America
Biography
Biography: Daniel J. Soeder
Abstract
The hydrocarbon resources of shale gas and tight oil have made a significant impact on North American energy supplies over the past decade. The production of so-called “unconventional” natural gas from U.S and Canadian shales has saturated North American gas markets, boosted Canada’s exports, and turned the U.S. into a net exporter of natural gas. Tight oil from the Bakken Shale has made North Dakota the second largest oil-producing state in the U.S., trailing only Texas, which maintains first place because of equally prolific liquids production from the Eagle Ford Shale and multiple shales in the Permian basin. Shale development blossomed in the United States between 2005 and 2010, driven by high energy prices, favorable lease positions, and the availability of technology that could economically produce commercial quantities of hydrocarbons from these formations. Development in Canada began later, and some shales have also been developed in Mexico. It is difficult to overstate the importance of shale gas and oil resources to the U.S. and North American energy economies.
Because U.S. unconventional oil and gas achieved dominance in less than a decade, it appears to many people that it came out of nowhere. In reality, researchers and industry went through an intense and protracted technical struggle. Modern attempts to assess and produce these resources began in the late 1970s, but success was elusive for nearly two decades until some visionary people hit upon the combination of horizontal drilling and staged hydraulic fracturing that proved to be a successful technology for producing shale gas and tight oil reservoirs. Shale development creates environmental risks to air and water, and technology that works on one shale play may not work on another. Other countries are looking to North American for leadership on environmental and developmental challenges as they consider producing their own shale resources.