Eagle Ford Shale

Charles Kappmeyer

Professor Michael Soto

GNED 1300: San Antonio Studies

11 December 2012

Discovery of the Black El Dorado

“As President Obama observed in his 2012 State of the Union Address, “American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years.”’ (Biederman) This news is quite significant, because “Just five years ago, US oil production was on a multi-decade decline that was widely expected to be terminal.” (Biederman) So how did America turn around it’s oil deficit so quickly? This answer can be found in South Texas, and it is known as the Eagle Ford shale. This oil deposit has become very productive in the last couple of years, and the economic value of the shale is unbelievable. The numbers the Eagle Ford shale is capable of producing is quite astonishing and these numbers lead directly to the center of my research. With this research project I hope to clearly define the physical identity of the Eagle Ford Shale, which will then allow me to illustrate the economic productivity that the shale can and is providing for the city of San Antonio.

First and foremost before defining its success story, what is the Eagle Ford Shale and why has it become instantly successful? Well to start off the Eagle Ford Shale is a formation, “…which trends across South Texas from the Mexican border and into East Texas, is 50 miles wide and 400 miles long with an average thickness of 250ft.” (Dittrick) This formation “is a hydrocarbon producing formation of significant importance due to its capability of producing both gas and more oil than tradition shale plays” (Railroad Commission of Texas) and this has made it a prime target for many oil companies. This shale was not always accessible however, and that is why we have just started to see success. When the shale was first discovered the process of “Hydraulic Fracturing” was tried, but this process was not economically efficient enough to pump oil at significant profits. Not too long after however,...