The US wrote the playbook for shale oil and gas, and now the industry is on the hunt for unconventional opportunities around the globe.
US operators have pioneered and refined oil and gas extraction know-how over the decades, often working with petroleum systems that are arguably less favorable than those found elsewhere globally, said Tidal Wave Technologies CEO Greg Leveille during a session on 22 June at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) in Houston.
In 2025, the US contributed about 8% of the global oil supply from conventional sources. About 37 million bbl of the world’s daily oil supply comes from unconventional rock, with 90% of that volume originating from the US and Canada.
That America has contributed so much oil to the energy mix is “not because we have exceptionally good rocks. If you look at the quality of our reservoirs, our petroleum systems, they are really pretty mediocre,” he said.
For example, Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, while large by US standards, with about 16 billion bbl of estimated ultimate recovery (EUR), is dwarfed by the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia, which has roughly 125 billion bbl EUR.
Prudhoe Bay is “a big field. It's been producing since the ‘70s, but if you look at that compared to many of the onshore global conventional fields, it's really just kind of a middling type of opportunity,” Leveille said, noting US fields in shallow water and deep water follow similar trends.
While petroleum systems around the world may be more robust than those in North America, he said, they frequently offer a mix of challenges related to supply chains, infrastructure, and the regulatory environment.
The development of petroleum in the US—onshore, as well as in shallow or deep water—has long been supported. The offshore industry started in the Gulf of Mexico and evolved there for some time before it expanded around the world, he said.
“Technologies which have started in the Gulf of Mexico were evolved over time and then transported around the world, allowing companies to find fields of significant size elsewhere and develop them commercially, even though the aboveground challenges, or in this case the above-water challenges, were much greater,” he said.
Move Early
With US petroleum systems maturing, operators are looking abroad for new development opportunities. When it comes to exploration, it’s important to be an early mover rather than a laggard, he said.
Leveille highlighted licensing in the Southern North Sea, where 90% of the resources that were ultimately discovered were claimed during the initial licensing round. “If you weren't in the first licensing round, which occurred before a single well had been drilled, you were missing out on 90% of the resource that was ultimately discovered,” he said.
He said the US unconventional resources followed a similar trend, where many of the optimal resources were “tied up early.” That means now is the time to pursue global unconventional opportunities “before others capture the acre,” he added.
Global Possibility
When securing unconventional acreage, he said, a logical place to look is where conventional production already exists. That’s how the Permian Basin became an unconventional powerhouse.
“Everyone said, ‘Okay, it's an oily place. There's got to be some unconventional reservoirs there,’ and in fact, it's the biggest oil-producing unconventional play in America,” Leveille said.
Yet the Marcellus is a “monster” in terms of unconventional gas production. “This is an unconventional reservoir that is basically in an area with no preexisting conventional production,” he said.
That means hydrocarbon opportunities exist in less-conventional places. “Don’t just assume that you need to look at acreage in the area with existing large conventional production,” he said.
Where Else To Look
Doug Valleau, president of Strategia Innovation and Technology Advisors, said during the same session that while it has been long known that unconventional hydrocarbon resources outside the US “had to be massive,” the early attempts to duplicate America’s experience with them haven’t gone as well as hoped.
In some cases, hydraulic fracturing was banned. In others, fiscal or regulatory policies weren’t supportive. In others, technology or methods hadn’t evolved sufficiently, or there was a lack of infrastructure.
Now, with “better technologies, better rigs, longer laterals, better depletion methods,” many of the potential unconventional plays around the globe are looking attractive, he said. “There are plays outside North America that could be as good as or better than the Permian, Marcellus, or even the Eagle Ford.”
Some countries are revising fiscal policies or regulations around hydraulic fracturing. “They’re seeing shale gas as a national security issue, as well as a positive environmentally friendly energy source,” Valleau said.
Unconventional rock with potential exists in Argentina, the Middle East, Australia, and Turkiye, to name a few, he said.
Similar to the Permian Basin, Argentina’s Vaca Muerta is one of the “more obvious” unconventional targets that has begun to grow into a successful play, he said. It has great geology, but the country also took an approach that embraced US technology, redefined shale as an industrial manufacturing process, and established favorable regulatory and fiscal environments. Argentina is also rapidly building pipeline and LNG capacity, he said.
The Jafurah field, which was sanctioned in 2023, represents one of the biggest shale gas projects outside the US. Discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2013, several hundred exploration and appraisal wells have been drilled there, and the field reached first production in late 2025.
The kingdom created an environment for shale-gas projects that reduced regulatory and permitting burdens to enable a fast cycle of development, he said.
Valleau called the Beetaloo Basin “Australia’s attempt to replicate US shale.” Not only does it have good geology, a frac ban has been lifted and the government is providing fast-track regulatory approvals, he said.
And Turkiye’s Silurian Dadas Hot Shale could be the country’s own answer to the Permian Basin. It is a play worth keeping an eye on, he said.
As US shale basins mature, plays such as those found in Argentina, the Middle East, Australia, Turkiye, and other countries offer new opportunities for investment and growth.
“It’s not just about having great rock; it’s also about having the right technology, coupled with an enlightened host government, that provides the right business environment and fast regulatory approvals that align with the manufacturing style of development. Success is not necessarily about rock quality, but it's also whether the state can absorb chaos, delay perfection, and protect learnings long enough to succeed,” he said. “The US wrote the playbook on shale. Now the world is catching up.”
