INNOVATION
& EMERGING ENERGY SOURCES The driving force behind employment and business opportunities for Vets within the Oil & Gas Industry
How the Unconventional Aspects of Oil and Gas Industry Are Driving Job Opportunities for Veterans
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n 1866, a Civil War veteran named Edward Roberts was awarded a patent for what came to be known as the Roberts Torpedo, which used fluid tamping to extract oil from the ground. It was a new technology that would end up transforming the newly developed gas and oil industry. New technologies continue to revolutionize the gas and oil industry, allowing for the extraction of unconventional energy sources that have become a driving job opportunity source for veterans. “In recent years, technologies have been developed that allow us to produce oil and gas from the shale formations that before had not been commercially viable,” explained David Drennon with HG Energy. “But today, because of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, it has become economical.” It should be noted that hydraulic fracturing is not a brand new technology. According to the American Oil and Gas Historical Society, the first commercial application of hydraulic fracturing – or fracking -- came in 1949. “Today, hydraulic fracturing is applied to the majority of U.S. oil and natural gas wells to enhance well performance, minimize drilling, and recover otherwise inaccessible resources. In fact, roughly 90 percent of the wells in operation have been fractured — and the process continues to be applied in innovative ways to boost production of American energy in unconventional formations, such as ‘tight’ gas sands, shale deposits and coalbeds,” the Historical Society reported in an article titled “Shooters – A Fracking History.” Even though it had been around for more than half a century, unconventional energy sources has boomed in recent years, largely thanks to horizontal drilling. For the first 150 years of the industry, the only way gas and oil could be extracted was via vertical drilling. “But in recent years, technology has been developed that allows drillers to actually make a turn with the drill bit, and they can go out and drill horizontally through the formation,” said Drennon. This means drillers can access a larger area of the reservoir. The horizontal drilling is partnered with the hydraulic fracturing. “In today’s horizontal wells, we use large volumes of water and are able to better produce the well and recover greater amounts of the hydrocarbons,” Drennon went on to say. The development of the these technologies has done more than simply allow oil and gas companies to expand into the extraction
6 | Veterans Opportunity
of these unconventional sources. It means that the oil and gas industry can expand into areas of the country where drilling was never before an option. For example, while western Pennsylvania is home to the first oil well in the United States and the oil and gas industry thrived in the Alleghenies, northeast Pennsylvania had no history of oil or gas exploration. Horizontal drilling changed that. “Geologists knew the Marcellus Shale formation was there,” said Drennan, “but in the past, it has never been economical to go and drill there.” While the drilling for shale gas and other unconventional energy sources has provided an economic boost to northeast Pennsylvania and other areas throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, like any industry, there are peaks and valleys in production. The unusually warm winter of 2011-2012 reduced the demand for natural gas, supplies got too high and prices dropped. In some situations, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the drilling boom produced too many wells than the market needed. Some operators have turned off their wells because they don’t want to sell the natural gas at low prices. This summer and fall, the industry has faced another challenge, courtesy of Mother Nature. The drought that has impacted much of the country is now affecting the energy industry. Each shale well takes between two and 12 million gallons of water to frack. That’s 18 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water per well, according to CNN Money. As landowners, communities, and state governments put restrictions on water use and water access, well production has slowed. It has slowed, but it hasn’t stopped. Wells are still being built, and extracting these unconventional energy sources requires a large work force. According to Drennan, it takes about 400 people to drill and complete a well, and that requires expertise in a number of different trades and professions. Sites need truck drivers, mechanics, and welders, as well as geologists, accountants, and lawyers. As it was a veteran whose invention revolutionized the way oil was extracted 150 years ago, it seems fitting that the exploration for unconventional energy sources would be a natural fit for today’s veterans. The skill set that veterans bring from their years in the military is ideal for the oil and gas industry, especially in these new areas of extraction. “People who come out of the military are well trained in areas of technology, instrumentation, automation, and those things lend
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