Unconventional Business

Long time ago the question was asked: Do unconventional resources require an unconventional approach? Frankly it took more than 5 years of elaboration to compile a short article published by SPE in 2009 "The Roadmap to Monetization of Unconventional Resources". Since then and in view of the last price crisis, I came to realize that the main conclusions would still hold and are strengthened by mainstream experience:

"Unconventional projects require dedication of resources and capital to initiate, and as they evolve, cost efficiency improves"

"Unconventional resource principles such as the mining approach, the modular design, the adaptation to manufacturing principles, and the efficient marketing of the field products become more apparent as unconventional development evolves."

"Commodity price fluctuations traditionally stir, or quench the urgency to develop these resources, as they do in conventional reservoirs. The long lifespan of unconventional resources makes their economic planning dependent on long term average trends."

"A significant part of the costs is fuel related and directly related to the product of the enterprise. Product price fluctuations trigger cost fluctuations, which lean towards consistent operating margins."

As an afterthought back in 2009 the idea of developing sound physics based engineering processes which could adopt to describing and predicting the producibility of unconventional petroleum extraction was viewed as paramount to the successful execution. This may not have become a mainstream reality yet, but I am inclined to share with you some significant achievements which allow this to happen in another blog.