No economic production, the cost to drill and complete was too great to recover from the minimal flow.
Hydraulic fracturing, combined with horizontal drilling, lower the cost of production per barrel. It does not raise the cost. It lowered the cost to produce enough to make it economic to produce.
It brings more oil and gas to the market by making it cheaper to produce.
That's simply not correct. Think of the cost to drill a vertical, traditional well and produce it. Compare that to the cost to drill and produce a horizontal well through a shale formation. Yet, the reserves are similar. We do not drill "cheap" oil here anymore because of the expense in shale drilling.
That is why the middle east can produce those wells in a $40 a barrel market and be profitable, while all of our shale drillers have cut back on drilling. As the middle east begins needing to produce from formations besides sand, their costs will be more like ours.... and that will help companies drilling here in the US.