Chapter 39
A Three-Dimensional Approach to Oil and Gas
Shale Exploitation in the US
Alexandre Charles Thys
Abstract For the last two decades oil and gas shale exploitation is going through a
real revolution as on one hand the technology to extract those energy resources is
improving at an impressive pace and on the other hand high gas price since 2003
made the winning of shale gas economically attractive. When some years later gas
price started to show some signs of stagnation or even decline and that on the
opposite oil price continued to rise, drilling companies improved their boring
technology by means of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking. Although
views differ as to the exact environmental impacts, it is indisputable that besides
technical challenges and world market prices the ecological balance also has be
taken into account while exploiting new or existing hydrocarbon reserves.
When analyzing the total quantity of available mineral resources versus the
potentially exploitable mineral resources, the two traditionally used factors are
technique and economics. This classic two-dimensional vision is displayed
among others in an original diagram developed by McKelvey in 1976. In this
chapter a three-dimensional approach of McKelvey’s box is proposed. The third
diagram dimension includes parameters - like the environmental approach - which
cannot be neglected any longer today. This new angle will be applied to the
exploitation of oil and gas shale.
Keywords Oil and gas shale • Oil price • Fracking • Environmental impacts • Land
disruption • Pollution
39.1 Introduction
The invention of the steam machine and subsequently its utilization in many sectors
of industry is considered as the milestone of our modern society. On the one hand it
laid the foundation for total new production techniques and for most actual transport systems by land, air and sea. On the other hand it also implied the extraction of
all kind of minerals like iron ore and the exploitation of fossil fuel, among others
A.C. Thys (*)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
e-mail: acthys@vub.ac.be
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018
C.W. Finkl, C. Makowski (eds.), Diversity in Coastal Marine Sciences, Coastal
Research Library 23, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57577-3_39
645
A Three-Dimensional Approach to Oil and Gas
Shale Exploitation in the US
Alexandre Charles Thys
Abstract For the last two decades oil and gas shale exploitation is going through a
real revolution as on one hand the technology to extract those energy resources is
improving at an impressive pace and on the other hand high gas price since 2003
made the winning of shale gas economically attractive. When some years later gas
price started to show some signs of stagnation or even decline and that on the
opposite oil price continued to rise, drilling companies improved their boring
technology by means of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking. Although
views differ as to the exact environmental impacts, it is indisputable that besides
technical challenges and world market prices the ecological balance also has be
taken into account while exploiting new or existing hydrocarbon reserves.
When analyzing the total quantity of available mineral resources versus the
potentially exploitable mineral resources, the two traditionally used factors are
technique and economics. This classic two-dimensional vision is displayed
among others in an original diagram developed by McKelvey in 1976. In this
chapter a three-dimensional approach of McKelvey’s box is proposed. The third
diagram dimension includes parameters - like the environmental approach - which
cannot be neglected any longer today. This new angle will be applied to the
exploitation of oil and gas shale.
Keywords Oil and gas shale • Oil price • Fracking • Environmental impacts • Land
disruption • Pollution
39.1 Introduction
The invention of the steam machine and subsequently its utilization in many sectors
of industry is considered as the milestone of our modern society. On the one hand it
laid the foundation for total new production techniques and for most actual transport systems by land, air and sea. On the other hand it also implied the extraction of
all kind of minerals like iron ore and the exploitation of fossil fuel, among others
A.C. Thys (*)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
e-mail: acthys@vub.ac.be
© Springer International Publishing AG 2018
C.W. Finkl, C. Makowski (eds.), Diversity in Coastal Marine Sciences, Coastal
Research Library 23, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57577-3_39
645