Optimaziton = $$$$

My last post had some information on the abrupt changes which are introduced into the oil and gas industry in the blink of an eye.  Hydraulic fracturing was a huge discovery several years ago which really changed the country's perspective on the whole idea of peak oil.  Many uneconomical reserves became economic to produce hydrocarbons out of with the technique of hydraulic fracturing.  Today, the industry faces another issue related to fracturing.  Fracturing has to be executed in stages to ensure more effective penetration into the reservoir.  Fracturing requires thorough study about the rocks mechanical properties (Young's Modulus and Poisons Ratio in particular).  When one zone is perforated, these moduli are changed for the neighboring zone which is set to be fractured next.  There is no clear answer to what number of stages is the optimum number to fracture a well with.  Although wells differ greatly, some wells being drilled with similar trajectories and into the same target reservoirs are being hydraulically stimulated in completely different ways.  As a guest speaker state "Everyone is doing completely different stimulation methods for similar well, but no matter who you ask, they are doing it the correct way despite the massive differences in techniques."  Monitoring the paths of the induced fractures in the rock is key to the answer of optimization of hydraulic techniques.  There have been several advances in this aspect and continue to progress.  I don't have a guess as to how much more economical these wells can become if fracturing optimization is achieved, but I do believe it has a great possibility of altering the perspective of peak oil once again in the near future.