Forbes: The Tectonic Shift Of New Oil And Gas Technologies Has Only Just Begun

The extent to which major new sources of unconventional fossil fuels are beginning to reshape the 21st century is just beginning to be appreciated.  Remarkably – and almost abruptly – it now appears that the enormous challenge of satisfying a doubling in world energy demand by 2050 will probably be met.  But it won’t be through renewable energy sources like solar and wind, although the role of these renewables will indeed rise.  The lion’s share of the new energy production will come instead from shale oil and shale gas, deepwater drilling, oil sands and other unconventional sources of fossil fuel.

The geopolitical impacts will be huge.  Canada and the United States, Europe, India, China, Australia, and many countries in South America and Africa — few of them accustomed to energy wealth — stand to benefit tremendously.

Behind these tectonic shifts are new technologies, some of which have quickly become well-known.  They include hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and horizontal drilling, in the case of shale gas and shale oil, and steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), in the case of oil sands. But alongside such prominent innovations have been many others that have been less well-recognized.  By creating new options in energy processing and energy conservation, these technologies have also begun to change our energy future.  MORE