Analytics Magazine Analytics Magazine, March/April 2014 | Page 44

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 T 44 | A N A LY T I C S - M A G A Z I N E . O R G 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 W W W. I N F O R M S . O R G