The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters.

• Author: Fitzgerald, Timothy

The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters by GREGORY ZUCKERMAN (Portfolio, 2013) 416 pages. ISBN 978-1591846451

The shift to unconventional oil and gas resources in the past 15 years is a spectacular episode of technological innovation with stark implications across energy markets. This book offers a popular account of some central players involved in the technological revolution and the resulting gas and oil bonanza. Drawing on his experience as a journalist for The Wall Street Journal and as a popular financial author (The Greatest Trade Ever), Zuckerman paints a colorful portrait of the technical insights, bullish gambles, outsized personalities, and financial volatility that punctuated the transition in the United States from depleted conventional fields to unexpected resource abundance in both natural gas and liquids.

Zuckerman's account divides the story into two acts: breakthrough and race. As in other popular narratives (Yergin, 2011), the breakthrough is largely credited to George Mitchell and Mitchell Energy in the Barnett Shale. Zuckerman offers greater detail about the cast of characters and internal debates within Mitchell Energy, such as the role of exploration geologist Kent Bowker and petroleum engineer Nick Steinsberger. Bowker was bullish on the Barnett, but the program to unlock gas was not always smooth and universally agreed-upon within the company. Mitchell remained convinced the Barnett would deliver the gas, in part because his back was to the wall.

From a broader perspective, Mitchell Energy was forced to innovate by its medium size. It was large enough to have a substantial delivery contract, and also large enough to finance a sizable drilling program. The contractual bind created by an essential natural gas supply contract and declining production from conventional fields motivated the persistence in drilling wells using experimental techniques. While majors and many independents ventured offshore and abroad during the 1990s, Mitchell continued to drill wells in North Texas, tweaking the design until the shale finally gave up its riches. Mitchell was not large enough to play in the higher-ante game offshore and overseas. Chevron was one company with capable staff and ample resources to unlock the secrets of the Barnett, but which grew impatient and moved on to other projects.

The story is not quite as simple as Mitchell doggedly drilling until the right combination of inputs came together. Other firms were experimenting contemporaneously, and competition was fierce. Many geologists knew the extent of the Barnett...