The concept of sustainable exploration, development, and operation of unconventional oil and gas fields

Armacanqui-Tipacti J.S. · Sustainability Applied to Unconventional Oil and Gas Field Exploration and Development (2024) · DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-0740-3.ch001

Resumen

The current daily life of society is founded upon an abundance of affordable energy that covers the residential, commercial, and industrial energy needs. More recently, the pursuit to reduce the CO2 emissions has been directly linked to the use of fossil fuels, triggering a reactive response that calls for the complete cease of it. While the objective conditions on the ground for such undertaken are not available in the short term, a few decades ahead, the oil and gas industry will significantly improve best practices. This includes the activities related to the production of oil and gas from unconventional fields, also called hydraulic fracturing; however, still there is a room for improvement. Nearly 80% of the current US hydrocarbon production comes from these fields, which has made it the top producer with a total production of 16 million barrels of oil equivalent. In the present work, a proposal is presented towards a more sustainable exploration, development, and operation of unconventional fields

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería