unconventional resources

Challenging environments such as unstable clay formations represent high operational risk when running tubulars after drilling is completed.

For the past 2 decades, the use of DNA sequencing technology has largely been relegated to the domains of criminal forensics and the healthcare industry. One company is betting that the shale industry soon will join that list.

A company known for being a pioneer in methods built on imaging ultratight rock at the core level has built a business testing drilling cuttings to help identify productive, fracturable rock to help operators design better completions.

One of the biggest ways to lower the cost of production from shale would be to identify zones that are productive, or not, before fracturing them.

Developers of the latest generation of unconventional hydraulic fracturing models are hoping that current weak oil and gas prices will generate newfound interest in their software technology.

With the world’s fifth-largest estimated shale gas reserves, there is great potential for Saudi Arabia to replicate North America’s unconventional growth.

While the collapse in oil price is reshaping opinions about the North American shale revolution and the outlook for oil producers, natural gas producers in the United States are in a somewhat different position

A panel of experts says US shale producers need to rethink their drilling and completion designs as problems mount for horizontal wells when they go on pump. Hanging in the balance is whether long-term production from many shale wells will be achievable.

Oil markets displayed their manic-depressive side in August, dropping to around USD 40/bbl early and jumping back to near USD 50/bbl at month’s end.

To understand production from shale reservoirs, the role of hydraulically induced fractures, natural fractures, and their interaction in a formation must be captured.