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The use of carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery in US oil reservoirs can result in the recovery of more than 47 billion barrels of oil. The use of next generation technologies can result in the recovery of an additional 30 billion barrels.

Trends in shale production and the environmental challenges it poses in North America are discussed. High resource quality for gas shales requires a series of reservoir properties aside from thick net pay. Emerging shale plays in the region are also presented.

Seven shale plays are dominating the North American natural gas potential reserves additions and production increases. Gas shale development is seen as the main reason for the increased production. Statistics on North America gas production are also included.

Production of unconventional gas will continue to grow during the next decade as long as prices of natural gas do not fall. Figures on the production of unconventional gas in the US and details on projected US oil and gas production are presented.

The economics behind the production on unconventional gas is explained. Unconventional gas drilling companies have turned previously uneconomic gas drilling projects into viable ones. Costs relating to environmental management and well drilling continue to rise and challenge the economic viability of unconventional gas.

The need for technological improvements and cost and operating efficiencies in resource expansion is examined. These concepts can be applied in the development of unconventional gas, specifically in per-well recoveries for unconventional gas plays. Graphs that represent resource expansion in different development sites are also presented.

An overview of the emerging resources of unconventional gas is presented. The production of unconventional gas in the United States is essential in substituting for the declining natural gas production in the country. The different gas resources are discussed in detail.

Resource estimates of unconventional gas remain varied because of different assessment data and methods. Technological improvements can change the outlook for unconventional gas projects and provide a better resource assessment.

The United States natural gas industry has been experiencing growth in the form of unconventional gas, which includes coalbed methane, tight gas sands and gas shale. In 2006, the industry produced 24 bcfd unconventional gas, 10 bcfd more than produced in 1996. Possible problems in unconventional gas production are also discussed.

US oil resources are far from being depleted. Large volumes, in excess of 1,000 billion barrels (Bbbl) of 'stranded,' unconventional and undiscovered oil remain in the ground, awaiting new extraction [...]

Gas shales, gas sands, and coalbed methane are the primary sources of natural gas in the United States.

The US Gulf of Mexico (GOM), providing 1.8 million bid of crude oil/NGLs and 14 bcfd of natural gas, has been a major source of domestic energy supplies. However, considerable [...]

The US Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has been and continues as a major source of domestic oil and natural gas supplies. Recently, some have begun to speculate that this critical [...]

The US Gulf of Mexico is a major source of domestic oil and gas supplies. Recently, some have begun to speculate that this important producing area will soon experience a [...]

This paper discusses the potential for storing CO2 and producing lower carbon intensity oil from onshore oil fields in the Cooper and Surat basins of South Australia and Queensland. A comprehensive database was compiled for the oil fields in the basins above, including the key required data to assess the potential of the basins for CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The South Australia and Queensland oil field databases contain 140 reservoirs with a combined original oil in-place of 1497 million barrels. These reservoirs have, to date, produced a total of 382 million barrels, with 458 million barrels of expected ultimate recovery (EUR). The database was compiled with support from Santos, Bridgeport, and Beach Energy. These reservoirs were screened further based on their size and pressure. The next step was to model the application of a CO2 flood in each of the shortlisted reservoirs using the CO2 EOR Prophet model developed by Advanced Resources International. The modelling showed that joint implementation of CO2 storage and CO2 EOR would allow the Cooper and Surat basins to store 116–158 million metric tons of CO2 and produce 248–518 million barrels of additional oil. Creating hubs and clustering fields based on their geographical location helps to reduce the cost of infrastructure and CO2 transportation. Therefore, the reservoirs in this study, were grouped and anchored to the most dominant oil reservoir that has the largest CO2 storage and EOR capacity. The results of the clusters are summarised in this paper.

Tight gas is a more important segment of US natural gas production in 1996. The distinction between conventional gas and tight gas is mainly delineated through regulatory channels. Tight gas has become a low cost source of natural gas through innovations in extraction technology. Previously it was considered difficult to produce and uneconomical., The recognition 20 years ago that large scale hydraulic fracturing could unlock natural gas held in low permeability (tight) rocks launched the U.S. tight gas sands play. This play, born [...]

Gas shales accounted for an estimated 800 MMcfd of domestic gas production in 1995, with much of the production occurring in the Appalachian basin. Gas shales production has doubled from 1990 to 1995, despite the end of the tax credit for unconventional gas in 1992. Several organizations are researching gas shales reservoir dynamics, well remediation and natural fracture detection., While actually the first and oldest of unconventional gas plays, gas shales have lagged the other main unconventional gas resources--tight gas and coabed methane--in production and proved reserves. Recently, however, [...]

Unconventional gas production, namely coalbed methane, gas shales and tight gas, accounts for 20% of domestic natural gas production at 3.6 tcf in 1994. Many gas executives have worried that the end of tax credit for unconventional gas development in 1992 would hurt exploration and development. However, unconventional development may be reversing its modest decline. The production and technology of coalbed methane, gas shales and tight gas is considered., It was widely believed--and sometimes too loudly stated--that the development of unconventional natural gas (coalbed methane, gas shales, and tight gas) would die once U.S. Sec. 29 credits stopped. Quieter [...]