Unlike other shale deposits around the country, the Monterey Shale is more uneven and the oil is buried deeper. Some companies have used hydraulic fracturing, which pumps massive amounts of water, sand and chemicals to break up rock formations, with mixed success.
From the information weve been able to gather, weve not seen evidence that oil extraction in this area is very productive using techniques like fracking, John Staub, an analyst who led the energy agencys research, told the Times.
The original estimate in 2011 was done by Intek, a Virginia-based engineering company.
The companys work was very broad, giving the federal government its first shot at an estimate of recoverable oil in the Monterey Shale. They got more data over time and refined the estimate, Intek senior associate Christopher Dean told the newspaper.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/05/21/estimate-of-recoverable-monterey-shale-oil-slashed/
to me this is a free enterprise issue. If the companies want to go for it. let them invest and drill. If they don’t believe it is profitable, they won’t. Case closed.