Review of Bracewell Giuliani’s ShalePlay App on the Shale industry

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Bracewell Giuliani’s ShalePlay app for IPhone is a one stop information source for professionals who are interested in learning more about the Shale industry.  The app has three main sections: Drill Down, Where to Play, and How to Play.

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The ‘Drill Down ‘section contains news, information on legislation, studies, and analysis from the attorneys and energy professionals at Bracewell Giuliani.

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The ‘Where to Play’ section is an interactive map that allows the user to get information on a specific Shale Plays by just clicking on the map.  A single touch provides name and age  information on play.  In future versions of the program it would be nice to get more information, like rig count and drill permits.

Touching and holding a location on the map gives more information provides news from the State that the play is located in.  Hopefully future versions will provide more specific information for each play.  Right now, all plays within a state present the same news.

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The ‘How to Play’ section provides informational and educational sources to learn more about the Shale industry.  There is a detailed glossary, listing of industry links and blogs, and a history of Fracking.  People new to the industry will most likely find this section very helpful.  Hopefully, this section will continue to grow as the app develops.

Suncor increases sand tar oil production; using rail instead of pipeline to move product

The New York Times reports that Suncor, a leading Canadian oil sands producer, will increase production in 2014.  The company anticipates using rail instead of pipeline to move oil to its refineries.

The Suncor website provides a detailed description of the oil sands process.

 

From their website:

Near Fort McMurray, Alta., Suncor recovers bitumen from oil sands through its mining and in situ operations. The bitumen from both operations is then upgraded to refinery-ready feedstock and diesel fuel.

The in situ process uses  horizontal wells to reach the oil sands ore. The top well injects steam to heat the reservoir, allowing the bitumen to flow to the lower well where it is collected and piped to upgrading facilities.  Graphic: