URTeC Speakers Debate Whether U.S. Shale Industry has Peaked

At the 2026 Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC) conference in Houston, Texas, experts debated whether U.S. shale has "peaked." AllianceBernstein's Bob Brackett noted that the sector has added 10 million bbl/d of oil since 2013, with Delaware Basin wells producing 300,000 bbl in two years, but flagged stalled productivity since 2021 and stubbornly low recovery factors (meaning less than 10% of the oil in the shale is actually recovered). Chevron's Birlie Bourgeois called for a "next chapter" via AI, better fractures, and EOR surfactants, which have boosted productivity up to 20%.

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