2.04.2010

Squeezing Gas from a Stone

Via Mark Perry at CARPE DIEM,
By marrying and perfecting two processes into a technology called horizontal fracking, engineering has virtually created, from nothing, new natural gas resources, previously regarded as inaccessibly locked in useless shale deposits. Suddenly, the mammoth shale formations in Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, North Dakota, and elsewhere have the potential to produce abundant amounts of gas for decades to come.

Human ingenuity has turned theoretical gas reserves — too costly ever to be exploited — into practical resources. [bold added]
Prior to this innovation, the natural gas in the shale could not technically be termed a resource. It was just gunk in some useless stone, as far as human benefit goes; human benefit being essential to the very definition of a resource.

This all sounds rather familiar. Does anyone know which industrialist or engineer is our real-life Ellis Wyatt?

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