Shale Companies, Adding Ever More Wells, Threaten Future of U.S. Oil Boom

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Newer wells drilled close to older wells are generally pumping less oil and gas and could permanently hurt output, leading frackers to cut back on the number of sites planned and forecasts on overall production to be trimmed

Shale companies’ strategy to supercharge oil and gas production by drilling thousands of new wells more closely together is turning out to be a bust. What’s more, the approach is hurting the performance of older existing wells, threatening the U.S. oil boom and forcing the maturing industry to rethink its future.

To maintain America’s status as an energy powerhouse, shale companies in recent years have touted bunching wells in close proximity, greatly increasing the number of wells drawing on a promising reservoir. The added wells would produce as much as older ones, many drillers believed, allowing them to extract more oil overall while maintaining strong returns from each well.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/money/shale-companies-adding-ever-more-wells-threaten-future-of-us-oil-boom/ar-BBUkoW8?ocid=spartanntp

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Nothing like greed to drive the whole process eh? They'll just shoot each other in the foot, all...

while poisoning the water table in this country. I would have thought that too much of something drives the price down, not the reverse of what these people think.

[DURHAM D]

2. "Newer wells drilled close to older wells are generally pumping less oil"

" the approach is hurting the performance of older existing wells"

Duh...how stupid are they?

The answer: They were just thinking short term production.

We (self and siblings) have a well that has been producing since 1937. There are no nearby wells. The original wooden tank batteries are still standing. Obviously they are not in use but they are really cute.