Exxon Mobil Corp. is betting that a better way to frack will double the amount of oil it can pump from shale fields.
“There’s a lot of oil left in the ground,” CEO Darren Woods said Thursday at Bernstein’s Strategic Decisions Conference. “Fracking has been around for a long time, but the science of fracking is not well understood.”
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of blasting water, sand and chemicals underground to break up rock and hold it open for oil to come out. Although technology led to the U.S. shale boom, only about 10 percent of a reservoir’s oil is recovered using current techniques. Better drilling and fracking methods may prove critical as production growth from shale fields slows.
Exxon is working on two specific areas to improve fracking, Woods said. He wants to be able to fracking more precisely along the well so that more oil-soaked rock is removed. You also want to keep the cracks open longer to increase oil flow. Sand is today the main method to prevent fractures from closing.
“In my mind that’s where the first wave of technology is going to come into this field,” Woods said. “We think we have some promising technologies to work with that will significantly improve our recovery.”
