It has been exciting to experience the U.S. energy renaissance during the last decade. The jobs created by the country’s shale boom have helped hoist the economy out of the depths of its Great Recession, and the call for industry talent continues to be broadcast far and wide.

This progress stems from discoveries of massive oil and gas reserves in large shale plays across the U.S. and from the development of new techniques and technology to thoroughly explore and exploit them. Through these ever-improving horizontal drilling techniques and advances in hydraulic fracturing, operators are amassing enormous wealth.

This success has enticed operators from all over the world to invest in North America onshore activity—even Norwegian giant Statoil, which is known for its significant offshore and subsea presence.

“In the 10 years we’ve been in North America we’ve invested $16 billion, with $10 billion invested in the onshore space alone,” said Veronica Roa, vice president of early stage projects and land for Statoil. Roa presented “Statoil’s North America Growth Strategy, Learning and Promises” on May 7 at the 2014 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.

But as fast as Statoil and other operators are drilling and completing these shale wells, they are finding it challenging to keep the good times rolling after production begins to decline. While they might be tempted to close down a mature well and drill a new one, advances in artificial lift are extending their investments, said Cleon Dunham, director of the Artificial Lift R&D Council (ALRDC).

“There’s a lot of focus on development of the technology, testing, training and support for the [unconventional oil and gas] industry,” Dunham said. “In [the ALRDC’s] conferences we have lots of presentations and exhibits that cover the technology and techniques being used to assist in producing deep horizontal wells. How you install the equipment, land it, operate it and maintain it are all big issues for any well, but particularly in deviated and horizontal wells.”

Service companies also are planning ahead by making the wells they drill today “refrack-ready” for tomorrow, said Juan Carlos Flores, product line manager for restimulation services and multistage completion and production systems at Baker Hughes.

“The focus right now is to complete the wells knowing the [production] decline will likely occur in three to five years,” he said. “We need to get more than five or 10 years out of the investment, so we will need to make them refrack-ready before we complete the well the first time.”

This is all to America’s benefit, of course. It ensures the country can look forward to achieving energy security and maintaining it, especially as crude exporting laws are scrutinized and hopefully reconsidered by Congress. While the industry continues to evolve, the whole world will benefit. It’s what keeps us all moving forward and innovating for our future.

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