Sunday, December 9, 2012

Breaking Our Dependence On OPEC Oil

World Shale Gas Resources: An Initial Assessment of 14 Regions Outside the United States. EIA

Thought We Were Running Out Of Fossil Fuels? New Technology Means Britain And The U.S. Could Tap Undreamed Reserves Of Gas And Oil -- Daily Mail

Thirty years ago, I was Secretary of State for Energy in Margaret Thatcher’s government, and one way and another I have been a close observer of the energy scene ever since.

In all that time, I have never known a technological revolution as momentous as the breakthrough that has now made it economic to extract gas from shale.

Geologists have long known that shale — a finely grained rock created from compressed mud, which sits in layers — contains, trapped in it, massive amounts of gas, and in some cases, oil.

But getting it out of the ground is a tricky business. Below the North Sea, natural gas forms in sandstone and when a drill reaches the gas, it flows out.

But shale gas is locked in dense rock. Energy companies must drill a well hundreds or thousands of feet deep to reach the layer of shale — which can be just 50ft thick — and then turn the drill sideways to bore horizontally.

Read more ....

My Comment:
I look forward to the day when we can all collectively give a middle finger to OPEC .... but i suspect that they will only drop their prices to compete with the revolution that fracking has brought about .... which is still a very good thing.

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