‘Soap Cocktails’ Help U.S. Shale Boost Oil Production

U. S. shale innovation is not limited to drilling techniques and engineering breakthroughs. Producers are testing and already getting more oil out of existing wells in the shale formations with the use of advanced chemicals.

The mixture of cocktails of various chemicals, the so-called surfactants, helps release oil from the tight and shale formations. And shale drillers, including supermajors and independent producers, are increasingly perfecting the right cocktail mix to release more oil from the rocks.