In the UK after struggling to find any failed global shale oil...

In the UK after struggling to find any failed global shale oil plays I decided to email the frac experts in Houston Texas.

My question to the frac experts;
So far my understanding is that frack success is not always on the money first time and may require tweaking. I then tried researching oil reservoirs where oil has been proven with core samples but unable to flow via hydraulic fracturing and I cannot obtain any history. My question if you would be so kind as to help with an explanation is; can every shale oil reservoir be fracked and able to produce oil?

Answer;
One of the greatest problems in Shale design is getting past the name shale. Classically the use of the name shale related to the soft formations bounding conventional permeable rock. The “shale” that we are fracturing typically is brittle i.e. hard and capable of being fractured. It typically contains carbonate, sandstone, chert etc. giving a modulus typically greater than 3 million. Obviously it must have pressure ,the more the better, and contain producible hydrocarbons. The classic failure for shale plays occurred some time back in the state of Alabama in the US. The Floyd shale contained high percentage of hydrocarbons but was soft and did not lend itself to fracturing and thus failed. Most classical shale is soft not fracturable. Typically the shale we are fracturing is source rock where over geologic time the hydrocarbons are formed.

I thanked him for his reply and questioned him further on Alaska. Response was an NDA (non disclosure agreement)as his company fracced 88E. I will say this guy is in his eighties, still working, writes technical papers on fraccing, and in my (and Paul Basinskis opinion) the best guy in the world for fraccing.

We at project Icewine tick all the boxes so the oil will be released. The currently executed frac has not had time to flow back the required quantity of frac fluid so it is a waiting game now. During Q3 2017 flowback lighter hydrocarbons (C1-C4 gas) were flowing with a trend to heavier hydrocarbons (C5 and higher OIL).

Now in laymans terms, do people really think this shale reservoir is going to play silly beggers and give us loads of gas, then loads of frac water back, then some saline water (salty formation water).... then decide just for a laugh to keep the oil??? it just makes no sense.

Remember what the Houston experts said; the best shale play they have ever seen.

Permeability super highways. Then the frac increases the permeability. Large porosity akin to conventional reservoirs. Beside TAPS pipeline. Massive overpressure 40% above normal... just what we need to push out our oil.

Cons; none? just the wait for the money!

Regards,
Garry.