NASA in the oilfield

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research." That is the first sentence on Wikipedia page for NASA. Civilian space program and aerospace research looks like to have a common "ground" with oilfield. More interestingly, this is not the first time in this cooperation.

Some major oil companies had similar research cooperation with NASA in the past. Results "unclassified" yet, but probably both ends profit from this cooperation so they want to do it again. There are arguments on government entity to disturb the free market with uncertain results (as with most research projects). That is supported by claims made up so far that this is and going to be one-sided technology transfer.

So far oilfield technologies such as communications and materials are influenced from NASA studies. It is claimed that deep underground (and underwater) has common characteristics as endless space. Essentially, yes, they are almost same for human race right now, because we really know very little about both.

Ukraine to make a decision for the future of shale

Ukraine, a former soviet country and transitioning (or at least having discussions of transitioning or not) a pro-EU country now, should be feeling a lot of pressure taking the next step when it comes to natural gas, particularly shale gas. Hit by gas cut-offs from Russia, on the other hand, still being an important bridge to Europe for Russian gas and surrounded by new shale gas exploration in nearby countries every step needs careful consideration for Ukraine. Benefiting its own shale resources may seem like more down the way for Ukraine. Big operators likely to invest in US gas more than anywhere else which in accordance creates a new discussion in the US itself of exporting LNG. Possible LNG exports from US would lower gas prices in Europe and would help Europe to recover from crisis ongoing. Consecutively, easing Ukrainian pro-EU transition and most probably easing their exploration activities on their very own soil. As seen, short-term and long-term results vary with a lot of other variables affecting Ukraine's decision, giving the taste of Middle East politics nowadays.

New tight oil play - Tuscaloosa Shale

As we are still improving our horizontal drilling and production techniques, new shale plays comes into consideration. Horizontal fracking applications for US shale plays are typically at a depth in the range of 5 000 - 8 000ft. Tuscaloosa Shale lies around 10 000 - 15 000ft beneath the surface. In fact, there exist wells drilled down to several miles and then several miles horizontally. So, going deeper would not be the main challenge to shape the future of this play.

There has been exploration activity in Tuscaloosa Shale dated back in 1960s. Drillers ending up with dry wells or very little production (essentially from other formations above and below Tuscaloosa Shale) kept new drillers away. Geological composition is not helping much with fracking, though it helps natural fractures while drilling allowing the high pressure of the formation to be lost before production phase. There are recent reporting of better results with different drilling fluid compositions (which eventually brought up this article). For a little side not for environmentally concerned, that very same geological composition (when completed appropriately) also will act as a self seal for fracking operations.

High oil prices compared to low gas prices already distracted E&P companies from shale gas (although shale gas is intensely supported by government). That would turn out to be good news for Tuscaloosa Shale and alike...