Resource Plays

Some opinions say anything that is not a conventional reservoir is considered to be a resource play (unconventional); and others believe that anything that has to be stimulated (such as hydraulic fracturing) is considered to be a resource play.  Below is a picture of a resource pyramid (from Dr. Steve Sonnenberg, Colorado School of Mines).  It is important to know that oil and gas can be produced from multiple different types of reservoirs.  This pyramid shows the world has only touch the "top of the iceberg" and is just know starting to target what is under the water. But, as you can see as you move down the pyramid technology and cost of production increases; OH NO, that means there will be higher oil and gas prices.  Three years ago resource plays contributed about 3-5% of the domestic gas; today, resource plays contribute around 20% and it is increasing every day. 
   

If you are unfamiliar about oil shale and how it is produced please take a look at the link below...
http://ostseis.anl.gov/guide/oilshale/
This link discusses briefly about oil shale, the oil shale industry, mining and processing, surface retorting, and insitu retorting. 

Another good article that was published by The Energy Insider about The Rise of Unconventional gas will give you some idea of how important shale gas is going to be for the energy demand in the future.  This article also discusses about what is unconventional gas (shale gas), and how unconventional gas will affect the gas market, pointing out that gas prices will most likely continue to increase until new and improved refining processes or new production techniques are created. 

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