“Current technology liberates, at best, 5 percent of the available oil in shale so continued technology advances would significantly improve future resource recovery.”
Oil and gas drillers continuously evolve and enhance their drilling techniques. Their more recent revolutionary technique to drill horizontally along the rock formation has come to be known as “unconventional” drilling.
To illustrate, we can compare the confectionery jelly donut to tiramisu, which is a delicious Italian dessert that coincidentally means, “carry me up” or “lift to heaven.”
Versus prior drilling, new generation hydrocarbon production provides an “energy lift” as illustrated below.
Conventional Drilling: Jelly Donut
Basic Vertical Penetration; Limited Formation Contact
Illustration © James Scherrer
New Drilling: Tiramisu
Sophisticated Horizontal Penetration; Extensive Formation Contact
Illustration © James Scherrer 2014
What’s So Unconventional About it?
Oil and gas resources are commonly divided into two distinct types, conventional versus continuous or unconventional.…