Shale Gas, Tight Oil, Shale Oil and Hydraulic Fracturing

The potential to produce oil and gas from low-permeability (tight) rocks has expanded rapidly over the last 2 decades. Over that time, drilling and stimulation technology have advanced, enhancing the ability to produce oil and gas from these impermeable rocks through precise directional drilling, massive multistage hydraulic fracturing, and microseimsic monitoring. These technological advances, along with continuing demand for the product, have driven a revolution in oil and gas production. Organic-rich shale and mudstone that has not been buried to a depth sufficient to generate hydrocarbons (called oil shale) has been mined and either burned to generate power or heated in specialized vessels to produce synthetic oil (shale oil) and gas for more than a century. This chapter discusses the nomenclature of these unconventional oil and gas resources, the resources potentially available in shale gas and tight oil reservoirs, the primary technology of production (massive, multistage hydraulic fracturing), and the projected production of oil and gas from them. These resources have the potential to provide extended production of both oil and gas for at least the next 3 decades. It also discusses resources, technology, and production potential for shale oil from oil shale. Although under very limited development at this time, the oil shale resource is very large, and provides a potential extension to the life of hydrocarbon usage, presuming that environmental issues can be resolved.