What danger lurks, what forms of industrial espionage might occur behind these oilfield entrance gates that require 24 hour, seven days a week surveillance from a team of diligent security specialists living in fortified travel trailers? Are there technological secrets to protect behind those gates, stimulation studies underway to revolutionize the US tight oil phenomena that companies want kept strictly confidential? Nuclear stage frac'ing? Fusion induced perforating? Is their...

This post is not very old, but I am inclined to re-publish it anyway for emotional reasons. At the moment the entire domestic oil industry outside tight shale oil and shale gas is getting slammed hard right now by poor energy policies and a Presidential administration that does not understand long term energy security and conservation of the last of our remaining hydrocarbon resources. It's on a mission to drain America as fast as possible, mostly for exports to foreign countries and campaign...

On the left is the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV (NAM) No. 2 Steen underway near the village of 't Haantje, Netherlands, 1965. In late November NAM encountered several over-pressured zones in the Germanic Trias formations of the Jurassic, in route to a total depth of 6,555 feet. They were getting their asses kicked, actually; total gas had been increasing steadily and weighing up the mud was leading to lost circulation problems. A decision was made to set a protective string of...