Thanks for the education
But aren’t the new techniques more costly?
It seems from what I read that the cost of the new techniques causes the price of fracked oil to be more than other sources.
They are used when the added production is a greater value than the cost of work.
cost of the new techniques causes the price of fracked oil to be more than other sources
No. It does not add cost per barrel. The total cost for the well to be completed is higher, but the oil produced is much greater so the cost per barrel is less.
In the shale fields, it (along with horizontal drilling) made a field that could not be economical to produce, worthwhile to drill. In effect, it reduced the cost per barrel. Without it, so little oil is produced that it wasn't even worth drilling the well.
Let me give a comparison to a different production.
The cost a large combine grain harvester is very expensive. But it lets the farmer harvest far more grain and faster than he can with a scythe.
Yes his total cost are higher, but his cost per bushel harvested are less.