Hydraulic Fracturing: Analytical Support Services

In the past five years, domestic natural gas reserves have grown 30 percent due to technological advances in the use of hydraulic fracturing. The surge in demand, coupled by an inadequate and uncertain oil supply and an unstable world economy, has made the exploration of the United States’ unconventional gas plays an enticing entity. These gas plays, known as “shale gas,” is one of the more rapidly expanding trends in the production and exploration of “onshore” gas production today. The United States has an abundance of natural gas resources. Currently, natural gas supplies approximately 22 percent of our nation’s energy resources. The Energy Information Administration estimates that the U.S. has an estimated 500 to 1,000 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable reserves beneath its surfaces. Technically, recoverable unconventional gas (shale gas, tight sands, and coalbed methane) accounts for 60% of that recoverable resource. At the present U.S. production rate, it is estimated that we currently have enough recoverable natural gas to supply our country for the next 90 years.

While the controversy over hydraulic fracturing is relatively new, the process itself is not. Since 1947, hydraulic fracturing has been employed in more than a million wells to extract more than 7 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion feet of natural gas from deep underground shale formations. Although the debate over hydrofracking and its impact and safety on our environment continues, three key factors have emerged in recent years to make shale gas production a viable, economically feasible resource: (1) technological advances in horizontal drilling; (2) advances in hydraulic fracturing; and perhaps the most important factor, (3) rapid increases in the natural gas prices over the past few years as a result of significant supply and demand pressures. However, only a handful of basins have achieved much commercial success.

Due to the fact that the abundance and quality of shale gas has just begun to be realized within the United States, the challenges to producers are numerous. In order to be cost-effective and efficient, there will be a need for improved exploration methods, more economically viable production standards and best practices that combine current knowledge and new approaches. We can anticipate that the unconventional challenges required for safe shale gas drilling will demand higher levels of analytical testing services. With its nationwide laboratory network and years of industry experience and service, Pace is positioned to provide high quality, cost-effective analytical testing to fully support the shale oil and gas exploration industry.