Nape Speakers: Technology Helped Put The Wind in US 'Shale Gale'

摘要

In 2000, there were three shale plays that at best were considered interesting but not all that important. In 2011, that number and importance has jumped as shale plays like the Haynesville, Marcellus, Tuscaloosa and Bakken continue to dominate energy talk and headlines. And that explosion "was started through technology." Speaking at the National Association of Petroleum Engineers Business Conference recently held in Houston, Chris Hopkins, Schlumberger's vice president of unconventional resources, was one of the speakers that touched on the topic of energy-related technology now and in the future. The shale gale has been pushed along with leaps in drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology, Hopkins said. "The point is to produce more with less — less environmental footprint, less fluids and less rig time," Hopkins said. "That's where the technology has come through."