New Wave Of Alaska Oil Development Through Large Scale Fracking 04/15/17 •lweb.es/f2773 •bit.ly/2oO3Cqa
Over the past year oil companies have discovered volumes on Alaska’s North Slope totaling as much as five billion barrels or more of recoverable oil – a 14 percent increase in U.S. proven reserves. A number of these new wells will be fracked using techniques similar to those now employed in the lower 48, as opposed to the more limited in scope fracking operations that have been utilized in the region since the 1980s. If these new discoveries become producing fields, Alaska will write a new chapter in the U.S. oil industry’s dramatic ascent.
Now is the halfway point for the 6-month oil production cuts agreed by OPEC and the 11 other oil producing countries, and the market is very close to balance. The International Energy Agency has observed that “Even at this midway point, we can consider what comes next … extending their output cuts beyond the 6-month mark would be bigger implied stock draws. This would provide further support to prices, which in turn would offer further encouragement to the US shale oil sector and other producers.”