# Unconventional oil and gas

Methods for oil and gas that do not flow easily.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/

Capture · Fossil and nuclear · No. 45

- Capture
- Output: Liquid and gaseous fuel
 Capture · Fossil and nuclear · Foundation · Energy

Fracking supplies about 64% of US crude oil, yet it leaves over 90% of the oil in the shale behind.

Chart: Illustration: Unconventional oil and gas

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Some oil and gas will not flow on its own. Engineers crack shale with water and sand, steam bitumen out of sand, or pump water from coal seams so methane escapes.

##### Three things to know

1. Each fractured well can use 1.5 to 16 million US gallons of water, and use per well rose by up to 770% between 2011 and 2016.
2. About two tonnes of oil sands are dug up and processed for every barrel of oil produced.
3. The largest methane hydrate test drew 861,400 m³ of gas from beneath the South China Sea in 2019-2020.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Tight rock**Shale, coal seams or sticky bitumen
2. 2 **Access**Horizontal wells or open-pit mines
3. 3 **Stimulation**Fracturing, steam, CO2 or pumping water
4. 4 **Flow**Oil, gas or bitumen reach the surface
5. 5 **Wastewater**Produced water injected back underground

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/correlation/index.md)
- [Efficiency](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/efficiency/index.md)
- [Techniques](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/techniques/index.md)
- [Resources and labour](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/resources/index.md)
- [Impact on the biosphere](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/biosphere/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/links/index.md)