NBC/CNBC Profiles America's Energy Miracle

From CNBC via CarpeDiem:

Randy Foutch calls it a renaissance, but when you listen to the veteran Texas oilman and others describe America’s nascent energy boom, it sounds more like a miracle.

Politicians have been warning for decades that the U.S. must wean itself from foreign energy, but just a few years ago their words seemed like so much wishful thinking: The U.S. was facing what seemed like ever-rising oil prices and was importing about 60 percent of its supply. Natural gas inventories were shrinking, and the country was considering importing a liquified form from the Middle East.

But in a turnaround that industry insiders describe as nothing short of amazing, the picture has drastically changed. Oil and natural gas drilling is now booming in places like Eagle Ford, Texas, and the Bakken formation in North Dakota, bringing jobs and prosperity to those regions. And believers say the newfound resource is so much bigger than anticipated that it can help drive economic growth nationwide for years to come.

Technological innovation — primarily the growth of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” as it’s commonly known — is driving the new production, enabling oil and gas to be extracted from geological formations once considered impregnable.

If I was in the mood I would write a lengthy note opining why the Bakken boom happened; an angle that I've talked about once before -- a long, long time ago.  In a way, yes, it was a miracle, but not for the reason people think. When the book is written on the shale oil boom, there will be a chapter devoted to the miracle of fracking and why it happened.