Twenty five years ago I was working with Texan rig brokers to export innovative horizontal drilling. Today I notice tremendous headway:
The average conventional gas well produces about 250,000 cubic feet of gas a day.
By inserting virtually unlimited horizontal shafts into a single gas well, multistage hydraulic fracturing technology is delivering initial rates up to 11 million cubic feet per day.
Just what we need. More fossil fumes.
The wheel has already turned from the habit of fossil imports though it will be a long time before we can keep dollars at home. Current activity is now very much NorAm as extractive teams get funded again. This is the short- to mid-term and while we eagerly await sensible juice that won’t kill us, there’s no other choice I’m guessing.
Years ago one of my mentors said “old men do what young men think there’s not enough time for”.
I’m working on horizon energy technology that (likely) will take its part among an utter turnaround in the way we produce energy, extracting various gases and liquids from the bio-layer rather than pulling it up from dangerous carbon storage. But years go by…
In the meantime, this is a hot economy even in a dip, with exponential demands from several corners. There are top folks working very hard to increase production efficiencies.