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Showing posts with label Brian O'Keefe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brian O'Keefe. Show all posts

Monday, April 16, 2012

Exxon's big bet on shale gas

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/

Exxon's big bet on shale gas
April 16, 2012: 5:00 AM ET

America's most profitable company now produces about as much natural gas as it does oil. CEO Rex Tillerson thinks the fracking party has just begun.

By Brian O'Keefe, assistant managing editor

FORTUNE -- For Rex Tillerson fracking is more than a revolutionary approach to drilling oil and gas -- it's part of his personal history. Simply mention the word to the CEO of Exxon Mobil (XOM) and he starts reminiscing about his days as a young engineer. It was 1976, and Tillerson had been sent to East Texas for his second assignment at the company. His job was to follow around rigs drilling for natural gas and "complete" the wells. That meant experimenting with a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. By pumping water, sand, and chemicals down into a well at high pressure, he could cause cracks in the stone where the gas was trapped and allow more of it to flow.