Inside U.S. oil’s return to global wildcatting: ‘It’s like geo-porn’

A volcanologist working at the U.S.

Geological Survey, Ezra Yacob made a career-defining leap in 2005 when he joined Houston oil producer EOG Resources and its geoscience team at the beginning of the shale revolution.

“It was this real acknowledgment that we’re opening up a new frontier in petroleum exploration,” Yacob said at a Hart Energy conference this week in Houston.

“That really appealed to me” Now as EOG’s chairman and CEO, Yacob continues to focus on frontier exploration, but it’s shifting internationally, specifically to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

While EOG remains huge in Texas and is leading a mini oil boom in Ohio, the 20-year-old U.S. shale industry is maturing—but not declining.

The thrill of the big discovery in the U.S. is largely gone, so the oil and gas players are increasingly focused on international exploration again, including replicating shale drilling and fracking (hydraulic fracturing) techniques abroad.

“The international stuff is probably front of mind for everybody,” Yacob said.

He said the Abu Dhabi shale rock geology is very comparable to South Texas’ Eagle Ford shale.

EOG has brought a couple of wells online thus far.

“It’s outperforming our expectations right now.” And everyone wants to “unlock the next new thing,” he said.

Despite the ongoing war in Iran , there’s bullishness the Middle East will rebound, and the countries increasingly want the help of American shale experts to tap into more oil and gas reserves.

The same is true in several South American and African countries, as well as Australia and even domestically in Alaska.

President Trump would like to extend the same sentiments to Greenland.

If anything, the Iran war is pushing more countries to develop their own natural resources, both clean energy and fossil fuels.