{"id":4907,"date":"2026-09-19T07:57:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T07:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=4907"},"modified":"2026-09-19T07:57:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T07:57:55","slug":"inside-u-s-oils-return-to-global-wildcatting-its-like-geo-porn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=4907","title":{"rendered":"Inside U.S. oil\u2019s return to global wildcatting: \u2018It\u2019s like geo-porn\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2254860203-e1789744996100.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A volcanologist working at the U.S. Geological Survey, Ezra Yacob made a career-defining leap in 2005 when he joined Houston oil producer EOG Resources and its geoscience team at the beginning of the shale revolution.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt was this real acknowledgment that we\u2019re opening up a new frontier in petroleum exploration,\u201d Yacob said at a Hart Energy conference this week in Houston. \u201cThat really appealed to me\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now as EOG\u2019s chairman and CEO, Yacob continues to focus on frontier exploration, but it\u2019s shifting internationally, specifically to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. While EOG remains huge in Texas and is leading a mini oil boom in Ohio, the 20-year-old U.S. shale industry is maturing\u2014but not declining. The thrill of the big discovery in the U.S. is largely gone, so the oil and gas players are increasingly focused on international exploration again, including replicating shale drilling and fracking (hydraulic fracturing) techniques abroad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe international stuff is probably front of mind for everybody,\u201d Yacob said. He said the Abu Dhabi shale rock geology is very comparable to South Texas\u2019 Eagle Ford shale. EOG has brought a couple of wells online thus far. \u201cIt\u2019s outperforming our expectations right now.\u201d And everyone wants to \u201cunlock the next new thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite the ongoing war in Iran, there\u2019s bullishness the Middle East will rebound, and the countries increasingly want the help of American shale experts to tap into more oil and gas reserves. The same is true in several South American and African countries, as well as Australia and even domestically in Alaska. President Trump would like to extend the same sentiments to Greenland. If anything, the Iran war is pushing more countries to develop their own natural resources, both clean energy and fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While giants such as ExxonMobil and Chevron never left international developments, they did dramatically cut back on exploration. In recent years though, Exxon turned Guyana into an oil power, and Chevron has led Kazakhstan\u2019s growth. Chevron also is poised to lead Venezuela\u2019s potential rebound. Exxon and Chevron both are increasing the international portions of their capital budgets for projects in the Middle East and Africa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After years of trimming their overseas assets to focus on domestic shale, other shale leaders such as ConocoPhillips, EOG, Occidental Petroleum, APA Corp., Murphy Oil, and others are again eyeing overseas opportunities\u2013both onshore and offshore. The country\u2019s top privately held, domestic producer, Harold Hamm\u2019s Continental Resources, is now expanding in Argentina and dealmaking in Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think international exploration is back in the game,\u201d said Bobby Tudor, founder and CEO of the Artemis Energy Partners investment and consulting firm. \u201cThe desire to look outside the core U.S. conventional business has gone up, and it\u2019s gone up meaningfully.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Twilight to daybreak<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If anyone knows the evolution of the shale industry, it\u2019s Tudor. His investment firm, Tudor, Pickering, Holt &amp; Co., helped fund much of the boom, successfully recognizing the direction of the oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the U.S. shale sector may not have quite entered it\u2019s \u201ctwilight,\u201d he said, there\u2019s only room for so much more growth and it\u2019s definitely not enough to fill the global demand gap that will rise again after the Iran war. The U.S. industry is in mature consolidation mode, not booming growth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tudor sees a lot more Western Hemisphere exploration rising from Alaska down to Argentina, and South American governments are trending more business friendly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe pull toward the Americas, especially in light of this war, is actually quite dramatic,\u201d Tudor said, arguing the region can offer reliable and affordable energy to the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That said, Tudor noted, the industry is largely out of practice with frontier oil and gas after two decades of dramatically reduced exploration efforts. Many workers in oil and gas \u201chave never drilled a dry hole,\u201d he said. They\u2019ve never done any real wildcatting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe exploration muscle memory of the U.S. got hollowed out and it got hollowed out pretty badly during the shale revolution,\u201d Tudor said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of muscle memory to rebuild in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bill Armstrong, 66, would agree. Armstrong, a geologist and the CEO of the eponymous Armstrong Oil &amp; Gas, is a true wildcatter and pioneer of Alaska\u2019s North Slope, making several big discoveries over the years, including the Pikka field that he remains bullish on. He compares it to the original East Texas oil field that boomed nearly a century ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHardly anyone does what I do anymore,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And he isn\u2019t slowing down now. So much of the seismic geology in Alaska\u2019s eastern Northern Slope is \u201cgorgeous.\u201d And he\u2019s gearing up to drill new wells. \u201cIt\u2019s like geo-porn,\u201d he said of the seismic imagery. \u201cThere are tons of opportunities. There is essentially no fracking that\u2019s been done in Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Armstrong also has his sights set on Venezuela and offshore Aruba\u2014adjacent to Venezuelan waters. From Alaska to Venezuela, these are areas being heavily pushed by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is true wildcatting,\u201d he said of Aruba, noting that only one other well has ever been drilled there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hunt for the next big thing is still what excites many in the industry, said EOG\u2019s Yacob. And EOG is known as a shale technology innovator and trendsetter. Where EOG goes, others typically follow. Although not a household name, EOG is revered within the industry, considered a decade ago as the Apple of oil and gas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yacob said EOG wouldn\u2019t target the UAE and Bahrain if they hadn\u2019t done their due diligence and developed the adequate confidence. After all, he said, \u201cGoing international is not easy. Going to South Texas, that\u2019s easy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the chase for a discovery is his calling, he said, and what drew him to the industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThink about what we get to do every day. You come in with a map and limited data sets, and you come up with an idea of something that\u2019s 2 miles beneath the surface of the earth,\u201d Yacob said. \u201cYou basically stick a straw down there and you get to test your idea, and you get pretty instantaneous results. It\u2019s the most thrilling industry I could ever imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#U.S #oils #return #global #wildcatting #geoporn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A volcanologist working at the&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7960,4166,273,7963,393,456,7961,3239,687,5177,7962],"class_list":["post-4907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-alaska","tag-crude-oil","tag-donald-trump","tag-geoporn","tag-global","tag-iran","tag-oils","tag-return","tag-u-s","tag-venezuela","tag-wildcatting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inside U.S. oil\u2019s return to global wildcatting: \u2018It\u2019s like geo-porn\u2019 - 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