Drilling Technology Improvements Game-Changers
Shale gas, trapped in sedimentary rock beds make it more costly to extract than traditional reserves. Shale gas has become a big factor in growing supplies as shallow offshore and conventional onshore wells decline. The combination of shale gas resources and the development of technology to extract the natural gas from the shale at a lower cost is a ‘game-changer’ for the North American natural gas market. Shale gas makes the US the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.
While producers were well aware of the vast reservoirs of shale gas, much of that supply was thought to be uneconomical until recent advances in horizontal drilling and rock fracturing techniques made shale production more viable and helped boost reserve estimates.
The United States is thought to have between 1,700 trillion and 2,200 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas reserves, or enough gas at current production rates to supply the country for more than 90 years, according to industry estimates.
Shale reserves make up about 28 per cent of the total, but that share is likely to grow in coming years as big new plays like Haynesville Shale in Louisiana are more fully defined.
Analysts say gas in these shale formations, typically close to existing drilling and pipeline infrastructure, should be easy to tap- growing natural supplies from the shales.
Natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal or oil, currently helps meet about 22 per cent of total U. S. energy demand.
That figure is expected to grow as the nation moves toward cleaner alternative fuels.
C. Keddy
