The crude oil production in the US, according to the latest monthly report of EIA, averaged about 6.5 million barrels per day in September 2012. As a fact, this is the highest volume in almost 15 years.

Over the last decade, more and more North American onshore oil and gas (O&G) production has come from past-producing deposits and shale. Technology is changing the exploration landscape. It has enabled companies to reach untapped oil and gas in what were previously considered non-economical parts of many conventional producing reservoirs and to enter into many unconventional shale plays. How is this changing the game for North American exploration and production (E&P) companies?

Analysts now believe these new discoveries in Texas and other states could signal the beginnings of another oil boom in the United States, and importantly, help wean the economy off of imported foreign oil.

Abundant resources + cost effective extraction = high production levels of unconventional oil and gas.

Stable crude oil prices, modest gains in drilling rig counts and a growing number of drilling permits added up to modest growth in Texas oil and gas activity as measured by the Texas Petro Index for the first four months of the year.

WOULDN'T I DO BETTER WITH EXXON OR SHELL? The smaller independents find over 65% of all oil fields, not the major oil companies. The majors left behind thousands of smaller oil fields which, are now becoming valuable as shortages loom until the new giant oil fields are found. There will be an 8-10 year window of opportunity to create great wealth and then we will have sufficient new reserves.

North America was grimly looking at the prospect of growing dependence on foreign gas. Now it’s sitting on so much of the stuff that people are seriously discussing export projects.

Now, for the first time in decades, the U.S. is producing and exporting more oil than it is importing, according to Bloomberg. It's a big enough deal that it's got the folks over at OPEC studying shale plays, Businessweek reports.

It’s an exciting time to be in the energy industry in America. The impact of unconventional oil and gas development on the U.S. economy is considerable, with potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in investments, millions of new jobs, and a renaissance of American ingenuity and innovation.

It’s one in a long series of disappointments for anti-fracking crusaders who expect at least the EPA, if no one else, to credit their crackpottery and paranoia.

This special sand is one of the keys to producing oil and natural gas from tight shale formations