Mother Earth: At The Center Of The Shale Revolution

摘要

When global business consulting giant Accenture finished a recent treatise on shale oil and natural gas development, it identified eight key factors needed to make exploitation of shale viable, and the first three are found in abundance in successful U.S. shale plays from North Dakota's Bakken to Texas' Eagle Ford. They are geology, land considerations and the existence of an unconventional energy resource service sector. The unwritten explanation for the roaring production in places like North Dakota is centered on these three elements. Two others are takeaway pipeline and processing infrastructure, along with financing, both of which have been written about extensively in conjunction with the shale revolution. The lay of the land, so to speak, has gotten less attention.