HYBRID DATA
How prescriptive
analytics can
reshape fracking in
oil and gas fields
BY ATANU BASU
he United States is reemerging as an energy superpower. According to the
International Energy Agency, by 2016 the U.S. will surpass Saudi
Arabia and become the world’s largest oil
producer.
The domestic energy industry’s recent rise is the result of lower demand
through energy efficiency and the rise in
production of unconventional oil and gas
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discovered in underground shale formations. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have made it possible to
economically produce oil and gas from
tight rocks. In October 2013, U.S. oil
production reached its highest monthly total in the last 25 years. In Texas,
with crude oil production of more than
2.7 million barrels per day, two shale oil
fields alone – Eagle Ford and Permian
Basin – are on target to produce nearly
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