Posted on 09/16/2018 8:25:08 AM PDT by Hojczyk
Move over, Russia — and Saudi Arabia, too: The United States is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil.
“US crude-oil production exceeded that of Saudi Arabia for the first time in more than two decades,” the US Energy Information Administration reported Tuesday. “In June and August, the United States surpassed Russia in crude-oil production for the first time since February 1999.”
That assessment confirms an International Energy Agency prediction in March that America would soon be No. 1, and it should keep that slot through 2019, at least.
Thanks to the fracking boom, US oil production has topped more than 10 million barrels per day this year — a first since the 1970s, Reuters reported.
The EIA expects US crude production to hit 11.5 million bpd next year, with growth likely leveling off as the increase in global demand slows.
Also thanks to fracking, US natural-gas production is similarly set to hit an all-time high this year: 80.96 billion cubic feet per day, up from 73.55 billion in 2017.
The energy boom, and the lower costs it means for manufacturing and other sectors, is a vital part of the overall US economic surge. Sadly, New York is seeing far less than its fair share of that prosperity, thanks to Gov. Cuomo’s pseudo-scientific ban on fracking.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Great read
Things looked grim for American energy in 2006, but a handful of wildcatters were determined to tap massive deposits of oil and gas that giants like Exxon and Chevron had ignored. They risked everything on a new process called fracking. Within a few years, they solved America’s dependence on imported energy, triggered a global environmental controversy, and made and lost astonishing fortunes.
No one understands the frackers—their ambitions, personalities, and foibles—better than Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman. His exclusive access drives this dramatic narrative, which stretches from North Dakota to Texas to Wall Street.
> “The United States is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil.”
Not only the largest producer, but also the highest quality of light sweet crude, best oil on the planet.
...and the World’s biggest producer of natural gas.
It wasn’t so much the fracing as the directional and horizontal drilling.
It wasn’t so much the fracing as the directional and horizontal drilling.
. . . but the formations yielding much of the petroleum and NG are tight and have to be fracked. Granted that they also are thin, so that fracking is impractical without the horizontal drilling.
Hydraulic fracturing hasn’t seen many changes over the years and when I say years I’m talking multiple decades. Drilling is where the change has been made and as you pointed out it’s the directional drilling that’s led to the boom. A vertical well spends little time in the actual oil bearing sands/shale, that zone can be as small as 60 ft or in some cases larger. The horizontal doesn’t just pass through the zone as a vertical does but runs horizontal through the zone, some well over a mile. On the vertical we’re lucky if we can perforate and frac two areas. With the vertical we can frac numerous times in the same zone. We’re seeing thirty and sixty stage fracing in some wells which opens up five hundred to one thousand times more area than possible with a vertical well. The only change with the fracing is the number of frac’s per well. This leads to another big change in where the fracturing of a well may ten times as much as the actual drilling costs. with a vertical well the average cost of fracing ran about one third of the drilling cost. This explains the high demand for fresh water and sand that horizontal wells require. My normal tank battery setup for a vertical well is two five hundred barrel oil tanks and a five hundred barrel water tank. Standard set up for a horizontal can be four to six one thousand barrel tanks and two thousand barrel water tanks. Larger separators and heater treater’s are also use and some times staged themselves to accommodate the increased production. It’s a whole new world for us older guys.
Thats right, and people need to understand that they simply cant run that bore anywhere they want. I had a oil rig supervisor tell me on the plane that they have to stay within a certain line and within a couple feet, or so, of that target.
At that time, he said they had two drill bits broken in the bore they were attempting to drill and that they had to retrieve them.
He was taking a 4 day vacation to Vegas as the crew that did the process took over the rig to get those bits back.
They hit a NG zone and burned off 2 drill collars.
Yes, very true. Also the water containment system design. Lots of innovation in all of it. Took more than 20 years to get it right. Wildcatters are heroes.
Then why the hell are gas prices so high?
...he, asked, seemingly without embarrassment.
Production, about 10 millions bbl/day. Consumption, about 20 million bbl/day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.