By the Numbers: The Oil & Gas Industry in the United States

By the Numbers: The Oil & Gas Industry in the United States

There’s a finite amount of natural resources out there in the world. To ensure we do not exhaust them, we have two options. First, we can make new discoveries to increase our reserves. The alternative is to innovate new technology that increases our means to get more out of what we already have.

Sometimes, such as in the case of the US shale boom, both of these can happen in conjunction. It’s no new story that through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing that we have been able to change the landscape of energy in the US and the world. Technological innovations have allowed companies to extract resources that were never before in reach. As a result, there’s been more production, discoveries, and cost savings than anyone thought was possible.

This infographic puts the numbers in perspective. Consider this: in 2000, only 0.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas came from shale in the US. Last year, that number was 8.6 trillion cubic feet.

In 2008, it looked like oil production was bottoming. Today, the amount of oil produced in the United States is higher than it ever was in the 90’s or 00’s. It turned around that fast.

Original graphic from: Forbes and Statista