What are the main challenges of unconventional field development?

When we talk about issues with field developments, we first think about environmental issues like induced seismicity, potential spills, water contamination, and carbon emissions. From an economic perspective, assessing variables such as porosity and permeability is hard, making successful well discovery a complex endeavor with less than an 18% success rate. However, the integration of deep learning is revolutionizing our approach. By harnessing the power of advanced analytics, we're transforming vast data into predictive insights, enhancing our ability to identify viable reservoirs. This not only improves success rates but also mitigates environmental impacts, guiding us towards more sustainable and efficient development strategies.

I agree. Unconventional reservoirs often have complex geological features, which makes it difficult to predict the resource distribution. This results in a high uncertainty and risk for a unconventional field development where one is not certain about return on investment. Typically, in most of the O&G fields, there is a very low success rate of 1 successful well for every 7 drilled wells (1/7). Also, unconventional reservoirs have less permeability, therefore hydraulic fracturing is performed to fracture the rock formation in order to allow hydrocarbons move freely to the wellbore for extraction. This imposes a high risk of aquifer contamination due to release of toxic gases, producing small earthquakes resulting in land disturbance.

A number of technical challenges may hinder exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas, such as large problems with exploring and developing, relatively high investment rates, rapid production decline in the early stages of exploitation or relatively small yields per well. For instance, in the first year, shale gas production would have fallen by between 60% and 90%. Carefully analyzing accumulation and migration patterns, besides utilizing technologies like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, will pave the way for maximizing production from unconventional oil and gas resources, while minimizing E&P risks at the same time.

The nature of life is to create waste. Obviously, the industrial activity in this sector generates a lot of it. From used contaminated fluids that can contaminate ground water, to carbon emissions, companies have to include waste treatment and management inside their expense list. Non-waste environmental hazards obviously include induce seismicity and land disturbance. Engineering in geology fields is something that we still do not fully understand, as most of the times we do not control what happens, but rather we can only explain or try to predict what will happen.

In the future the focus will heavily shift more towards unconventional assets such as shale reservoirs, which were avoided until now due to their high economic liability, as it needs heavier drilling, fracturing and maintenance. It is also very liable to market volatility, as the price of fuel needs to be above a certain threshold for it to be economically viable. However due to the ever increasing energy demand of the world, the industry would have no choice but to shift it's focus towards these once overlooked sources of energy.

The social dimension is pivotal in the oil and gas (OG) sector. If the public has a negative view, less people will go in the industry, it will become harder to find people to fill jobs, and universities will face increasing pressure to drop degrees that pertain to the oil and gas field. While OG contributes significantly to climate change, alternatives remain limited. It's crucial to distinguish between political promises and scientific realities, understanding complete OG elimination by 2050 is unlikely. The focus should be on urging OG companies toward sustainability, emphasizing carbon capture and waste management to bridge the gap between current needs and a greener future.

In the UK, there's a general confusion when it comes to differentiating between ELECTRICITY consumption and ENERGY consumption. While it is true that a significant share of electricity comes from wind power, electricity forms just a part of total energy use, which encompasses transportation, heating, and industrial processes. As of recent data, while renewables like wind power supply a growing share of electricity, oil and gas remain predominant in the UK's broader energy mix. Specifically, fossil fuels are central to powering vehicles, aviation, and heating, underlining the continued reliance on oil and gas for a majority of the country's energy needs.