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As discussed in Chapter 1, the shale resource base in the world is very large. Unconventional liquid-rich and gas-rich shale resources are developed using multistage-hydraulically-fractured horizontal wells to create large surface areas for accessing hydrocarbons within the tight pores in the matrix. Using this technology generally provides approximately 5 to 10% recovery factor for the oil and approximately 20 to 50% recovery factor for the gas within the stimulated rock volume. According to the 2014 EIA report (EIA 2014), technically recoverable shale oil and shale gas resources in the United States are 58 billion bbl of oil and 665 Tcf of gas. The corresponding figures for the world are 345 billion bbl of oil and 7,299 Tcf of gas. The Bakken formation in-place volume has been reported to contain between 100 and 900 billion bbl, and the current estimate for primary recovery ranges from 3 to 12% (Kurtoglu et al. 2013, 2014).

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