（彭博社）“埃克森美孚公司押注，更好的压裂方法将使页岩油井的石油产量增加一倍。

“地下只剩下大量石油，”首席执行官达伦·伍兹周四在伯恩斯坦战略决策会议上表示。“赛车运动已经存在很长一段时间了，但水力压裂的科学却没有得到很好的理解。”

水力压裂或压裂是将水、沙子和化学物质注入地下以破碎岩石并使其保持开放以便石油流出的过程。尽管该技术带动了美国页岩油的繁荣，但使用现有技术仅回收了油藏中约 10% 的石油。随着页岩井产量增长放缓，更好的钻井和压裂方法可能至关重要。

伍兹说，埃克森美孚正在两个具体领域开展工作以改善水力压裂。它希望能够沿着油井进行更精确的压裂，以便排出更多的浸油岩石。它还希望使裂缝保持更长时间，以促进石油流动。沙子是当今防止裂缝闭合的主要方法。

“在我看来，这就是第一波技术将进入该领域的地方，”伍兹说。“我认为我们在那里采用了一些有前途的技术，这将显着改善我们的恢复情况。”

(Bloomberg) – ExxonMobil Corp. is betting that a better way to frac will double the amount of oil it can pump from shale wells.

“There’s just a lot of oil being left in the ground,” Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said Thursday at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference. “Fracing’s been around for a really long time, but the science of fracking is not well understood.”

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracing, is the process of injecting water, sand and chemicals underground to break apart rock and keep it propped open for oil to flow out. Though the technology gave rise to the U.S. shale boom, only about 10% of the oil in a reservoir is recovered using current techniques. Better drilling and fracing methods may prove critical as output growth from shale wells slows.

Exxon is working on two specific areas to improve fracing, Woods said. It wants to be able to frac more precisely along the well so that more oil-soaked rock is getting drained. It also wants to keep the cracks open longer to boost the flow of oil. Sand is the primary method today to prevent fractures from closing up.

“That in my mind is where the first wave of technology will come into that field,” Woods said. “We think we’ve got some promising technologies to employ there that will significantly improve our recovery.”