Reuters: Schlumberger outlines future roadmap for fracking

Hydraulic fracturing has already transformed the North American gas industry, and has the potential to revolutionise gas production and eventually oil output worldwide.

So far the approach has been based on brute force: employing ever-increasing amounts of horsepower, fracking fluid and sand to wring natural gas and oil from previously inaccessible tight rock formations in a manner that is wasteful, expensive and maximises the environmental impact.

However, in a speech last month, Schlumberger Chief Executive Paal Kibsgaard previewed a smarter approach in future that will cut costs, improve recovery rates and reduce negative effects associated with high water consumption and large numbers of truck movements ("Kibsgaard speaks at the 40th annual Howard Weil energy conference" March 26).

"We see hydraulic fracturing ... moving away from the current approach of trying to achieve more production with more resources, towards achieving more production with less resources. This will be essential to lower well costs and to reduce the operational footprint," according to Kibsgaard.

In effect, the Schlumberger chief executive sketched out a roadmap for the next phase of the shale industry, as it scales up from a niche business to a world-class one.  MORE