Shale Oil and Gas

What is Shale?

Shale is porous rock that holds natural gas and their liquid components. These hydrocarbons are accessed by hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking.” This creates fractures in sedimentary rock by using water mixed with small amounts of sand and additives to release the natural gas or oil. Fracking technology has been around since the 1940s; however, it wasn’t until it was combined with horizontal drilling that shale oil and gas became accessible. By drilling long horizontal wells, we can deliver more production from a single well and minimize our surface footprint.

Thriving in the Energy Transition

Oil, natural gas, and their liquid components such as propane and butane will continue to fuel homes, vehicles, airlines, large industries and manufacturers through the energy transition. They will also continue to provide key components in everyday products such as fertilizer, which enables growing crops to feed billions of people; energy-efficient home insulation; and life-saving medical devices and medications.

At the same time, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be reduced. Shell’s¹ Shales business focuses on safely and responsibly producing gas, oil and their liquid components. We have robust GHG targets and – even with production ramp up – we are on track to meet top quartile GHG intensity targets for our hydrocarbon assets by 2021 and gas by 2025.

Our Shales business has positioned Shell to thrive in the energy transition by responding to society’s desire for more and cleaner, convenient and competitive energy while sustaining our strong societal license to operate and contribute to society through a shared value approach to our activities.
 

_{¹ Royal Dutch Shell plc and its various subsidiaries and affiliates (the “Shell Group”) are separate legal entities. In this announcement the expression “Shell” is sometimes used for convenience where references are made to those entities individually or collectively. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to companies in the Shell Group in general or those who work for them, and these references do not reflect the operational or corporate structure of, or the relationship between, entities in the Shell Group. Nothing in this announcement is intended to suggest that any entity in the Shell Group, including Royal Dutch Shell plc, directs or is responsible for the day-to-day operations of any other entity in the Shell Group.}