OPINION
Pundits and gurus thrive on telling us what the future will hold. That if we somehow collect better data—and analyze it with more and more sophisticated techniques—we can get closer to eliminating uncertainty about tomorrow. Still, what all the looks into a crystal ball cannot foresee is the inexplicable nature of human creativity.
Our era has been defined by the unpredictable actions of men like Wright, Fleming, Edison, Jobs, Salk, Ford, and Borlaug. It is now time to add another name to our pantheon: Nick Steinsberger.
Twenty-five years ago, on June, 11, 1998, Steinsberger, a 34-year old petroleum engineer working for Mitchell Energy in Texas, helped to unleash one of the biggest waves of creative destruction in the modern era. As oil prices had crashed—and the future of his employer and his job hung in the balance—Steinsberger convinced George Mitchell to allow him to experiment with the industry standards that dated back to the 1940’s. Pressurized water and a cocktail of chemicals, which formed a gel-like material, combined to break up shale rock and kept it separated, allowing the carbon trapped inside to escape to the surface. This process worked effectively most of the time. Still, there remained a lot of inefficiency. Capital requirements remained stubbornly high.
Out of seeming desperation to make the process better—and to stay employed—Steinsberger lobbied to dramatically increase the water pressure level being shot into a well hole. Eventually, George Mitchell relented. A few days later, after the experiment went ahead, the S.H. Griffin Well #4 in North Texas was producing more natural gas than could ever be imagined.
Over the next few years, significant technological developments in horizontal drilling techniques allowed for frackers to extract exponentially more carbon from a single well hole. When melded with Steinberger’s new formula, the American shale energy revolution was able to take off. The implications of all this are massive.
America has gone from being a highly dependent importer of oil and natural gas to the largest energy producer in the world in less than a generation. The country’s burgeoning manufacturing renaissance is only possible because of a steady and predictable energy flow. For example, European manufacturers now consider the U.S. a prime location for new or expanded production facilities.
Environmentally, with cleaner natural gas steadily replacing dirtier coal as the primary source of electricity, the U.S. has reduced carbon emissions greater and faster than any large economy. Moreover, as electricity demand continues apace, the U.S. can almost seamlessly create more of it by accessing the nation's massive gas reserves, while still reducing pollution and continuing to make the air healthier for the population.
What much of the rest of the world wants—a consistent, affordable, and cleaner energy source--is already being produced and delivered every day to American homes and businesses courtesy of the natural gas revolution.
It reminds us that progress smiles at all of our attempts to force its flow into understandable patterns and grooves. Progress creates havoc with our generalizations, breaks our rules, and will always continue to surprise us. Today’s anniversary is simply another marker on that curvy road.
Andrew R. Thomas, Ph.D., is associate professor of marketing and international business at the University of Akron; and, a member of the Core Faculty at the International School of Management in Paris. He is a bestselling business author/editor of 23 books, including The Customer Trap: How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake in Business, Global Supply Chain Security, The Final Journey of the Saturn V, and Soft Landing: Airline Industry Strategy, Service and Safety.
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