It seems to me that this kind of tech should already be available to the drillers in some form or other. Am I wrong?
the absolute best measure for detection of shale gas is via mudlogs where gas will “kick” due to excessive pressure during drilling operations.
Almost every shale I know of produces these results.
Drillers always made record of where these kicks were as they drilled to more productive formations.
Don’t really see much benefit in this device except maybe liquids content estimation of shale formations; however, having said that, I also poo-pooed horizontal drilling technology as a novelty back in the early 80s, so I may not be the best one to ask.
Outside of mudlogs - they can use a magnetic resonance tool to determine water/hydrocarbon contents, as well as a number of detectors with and without radioactive or sound sources to look at electromagnetic, density, and porosity responses. Sounds like this is more precise in typing the hydrocarbons.
And then of course there are core samples