Shale magical thinking

Three weeks ago, a cobbled together a post on fracking and secondary recovery.  If you recall, I am not much enthused about fracking's potential to supply a large market like USA's with petroleum.  Well, this Arthur Berman guy thinks the whole idea is just goofy.  If you follow this sample back to the original story, you will discover a bunch of powerpoint slides that pretty much demolish the whole Fracking-Will-Save-Us argument.

The tiny amount of petroleum we will get from fracking is nowhere near the costs of spoiled groundwater supplies alone.  Yes, humans need energy to survive—but they also need water.

Oil Guru Destroys All Of The Hype About America's Energy Boom

Rob Wile | Jan. 20, 2013



Not everyone believes the U.S. is capable of becoming energy independent thanks to its shale oil and gas reserves, as the International Energy Association suggested recently.

The math just doesn't work out, they say — America consumes too much.

But some are even more skeptical than that.

Arthur Berman, an oil analyst with Labyrinth Consulting Services, says the promise of America's shale reserves have been vastly overstated.

His main argument: shale is too expensive to drill, and shale wells usually don't last longer than a couple of years.

Last year, he laid out his case at a gathering of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas in Austin Texas. more

Some sample slides.