The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[OakesCS]

FL,
i am a geologist/geochemist & work for a large O&G service company. my previous comment was somewhat facetious. I'm well aware of why a production company should characterize shale gas reservoirs. The fact is that in the shale gas business, many production companies minimize their expenditures on such things.

also, induced fractures in shale gas do tend to be vertical - not horizontal as you indicated to moneyman. Not sure whether you misspoke but the least principle stress direction in these reservoirs is generally in the horizontal plane so fractures form most easily in the vertical. That is convenient because the rocks and wells tend to be mostly horizontal. It's also why folks worry about injected chemicals having opportunity to migrate upwared and out of the shales. Nobody really knows what happens to most of the injected water and that is something that i'm peripherally involved in.

http://www.3legsresources.com/media/A%20guide%20to%20shale%20gas.pdf

charlie