Fracking From Sea to Shining Sea Seen by Drilling Pioneer

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-08/fracking-from-sea-to-shining-sea-seen-by-drilling-pioneer.html

Where others see purple mountain majesties, Kent Bowker sees buried treasure.

The 58-year-old geologist was part of a team that first extracted significant amounts of gas from a dense rock formation near Fort Worth, Texas, in the late 1990s. Now Bowker says he’s identified a sweet spot in the Rocky Mountains that, along with untapped shale in California, will add to output from Pennsylvania to Texas that’s already propelled the U.S. to No. 1 in the world for combined oil and gas production.

It’s time for the shale revolution to push west, Bowker said. Pressed to reveal a more specific location for his “super-secret” potential bonanza, Bowker joked, “Is this guy a landman?”

“We know where we can drill thousands and thousands and thousands of additional wells,” Bowker said. “I don’t think we need another gigantic breakthrough. I don’t think that’s necessary to keep the ball rolling in the shale plays.”