In the early years of this century, U.S. pundits were showing charts and graphs indicating that the natural gas supplies coming from the Gulf of Mexico were in decline and the situation showed no signs of improving. But a quiet revolution already was taking place.
George Mitchell of Mitchell Energy, who had been laboring in the Barnett Shale for several years with little success, finally found the right recipe of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. And it was off to the races. Other shales followed: the Haynesville, Fayetteville, Marcellus, Utica, Eagle Ford, Bakken, etc. The country’s vast accumulation of shales, which had always been studiously avoided by drillers in the past, were suddenly being viewed as its salvation. When gas prices dropped due to oversupply, operators went after oil, ultimately leading to one of the industry’s most prolonged downturns.
In these pages you’ll find an interview with Steve Holditch, whom E&P interviewed 15 years ago when unconventional resources were still a glimmer on the horizon. Holditch looks back over those remarkable 15 years and postulates what might be next. We also take a look at some of the latest technological breakthroughs that help operators drill, complete and produce more efficiently in this low-price environment.
Read E&P's November cover stories:
US shale operators focus on completion optimization, best practices
MPD emerging as preferred drilling method in Utica Shale
Composite vs. dissolvable fracture plugs
Recommended Reading
Fracturing’s Geometry Test
2024-02-12 - During SPE’s Hydraulic Fracturing Technical Conference, industry experts looked for answers to their biggest test – fracture geometry.
Exclusive: Halliburton’s Frac Automation Roadmap
2024-03-06 - In this Hart Energy Exclusive, Halliburton’s William Ruhle describes the challenges and future of automating frac jobs.
Exclusive: Silixa’s Distributed Fiber Optics Solutions for E&Ps
2024-03-19 - Todd Chuckry, business development manager for Silixa, highlights the company's DScover and Carina platforms to help oil and gas operators fully understand their fiber optics treatments from start to finish in this Hart Energy Exclusive.
Oil States’ ACTIVEHub for Digitized Assets
2024-03-14 - Oil States Energy Services’ new ACTIVEHub system and ACTIVELatch help operators remotely monitor and automate frac locations for a more efficient and safer wellsite.
GEODynamic’s EPIC Perforating Technologies for Wireline Solutions
2024-03-12 - The EPIC Precision and EPIC Flex top-loading gun systems are engineered to be used across a broad range of unconventional well designs for extremely reliable plug-and-perf completions.