A distinguished panel of operating company representatives assembled earlier this year to share their views on how hydraulic fracturing is being applied today, and what challenges must be overcome to achieve further gains. The panelists took part in the plenary session "Hydraulic Fracturing: Think Global But Act Local" at the SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference 2009 in The Woodlands, Texas.
Stephen Holditch, Department Head and Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation-endowed Chair in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, moderated the plenary. He opened with a discussion of the so-called "resource triangle" theory that states that hydrocarbon resources are distributed log-normally in nature, with easily developed conventional reserves—which are a relatively small portion of overall volume—located at the top of the triangle. "As you get deeper into the resource triangle [closer to the base], the amount of unconventional resource plays is tremendous," Holditch said.
A method developed at A&M to evaluate the ratio of conventional to unconventional resources in a basin suggests that there is approximately 10 times more technically recoverable oil and gas from unconventional resources than from conventional reserves. This method was developed from data-rich basins in the US Rockies region, but Holditch is confident that this same ratio should be found in basins around the world.
"We are looking at more basins with this technique, and if the 10-to-1 [unconventional to conventional] ratio holds up, this means there is an enormous amount of unconventional resources yet to be produced around the world," he said. "Technology transfer on techniques such as hydraulic fracturing will be key to unlocking these resources."
Kirk Bartko, Senior Petroleum Engineering Consultant with Saudi Aramco's Petroleum Engineering Support Division, spoke next about his company's stimulation efforts in Saudi Arabia. He said that as of 2006, the country had more than 5% of the world's known gas reserves with 230 Tcf. "Domestic demand is 7 Bcf per day, and by 2025 this is expected to grow to 14 Bcf per day due to increasing industrial requirements and electricity generation," he continued.