U.S. shale oil will bring energy independence do?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Technology Innovation" senior editor Kevin Bullis Energy recently wrote that,shale gas although the International Energy Agency (IEA) "World Energy Outlook 2012" report said that thanks to the extraction of oil from shale in the new technology, the next 10 years the United States Oil production will be significantly improved, making it more than Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer, but the leader is likely to be temporary,frac proppant and will not let the United States to stop importing oil. Unless there is a technical breakthrough in oil production or consumption is significantly reduced in the foreseeable future, the United States still need to rely on imported oil.

As of the end of 2011, U.S. oil production has increased to 810 million barrels a day, the increase in production is almost entirely from the shale oil. Two major U.S. shale reservoirs, North Dakota Bakken formations and Texas Eagle Ford Shale together the current production of about 900,000 barrels per day. However, shale reservoir is limited. IEA projected to the mid 2020s production will gradually decline,Fracturing proppant until then Saudi Arabia will return to the list. Royal Dutch Shell's former executives, now a visiting scholar at MIT's Richard Sears pointed out how much shale oil production, as well as how fast production depends mainly on two factors: the price of oil and water to overcome local opposition beat crack of difficulty. Significantly higher than the cost of shale oil in Saudi Arabia and the oil produced in many parts of the world, so the oil companies for the development of this resource, oil prices must be maintained at a high level. Another potential problem is that local communities are opposed to hydraulic fracturing will hinder the development of shale oil. On hydraulic fracturing could contaminate drinking water in many areas such concerns against the use of this technique, the same people worry that shale oil drilling needs to dig far more than conventional oil production.

Although the United States to rapidly develop its shale oil resources, it is still unlikely to completely stop oil imports. IEA is expected to continue in 2035 the United States imported 340 million barrels of oil per day. The United States consumes nearly 19 million barrels of oil a day, even shale oil production is expected to reach the peak of the mid-2020s, there are still more than 700 million barrels a day gap.ceramic proppant However, IEA expects biofuels in transportation and increased use of natural gas, as well as improved vehicle efficiency will lead to lower demand for oil, making this part of the gap decreases.

IEA indeed be extrapolated to the 2035 U.S. closer to achieving energy self-sufficiency, but this is offset by exports of coal and gas oil imports came to a conclusion. To achieve true energy independence, the U.S. will need to invest in natural gas and coal into liquid fuel transportation technology, or obtain other rapid decline in oil demand can make technological breakthroughs, such as improved batteries or biofuels.