[foxFive]

Yes and no. They're not mutually exclusive, but you can use one without the other and they are often used in conjunction. It just depends on what the engineers decide is the most practical way to extract the oil. I realize it may sound petty, but I wanted people to know that they are two completely different processes. It's a lot like hearing someone confuse JavaScript with Java. Easy and understandable mistake but two very different animals.

[JshWright]

More like confusing React and Redux. Horizontal drilling (React) without fracking (Redux) is pretty common, but it's pretty rare to frack without horizontal drilling.

[ta2507823]

Indeed - I'd say this is close enough for the lay person. I've been on many vertical wells that were fractured (out side of the US), but that is mostly irrelevant to what is being discussed. It is certainly true that shale gas was only cost effective due to horizontal drilling + fracking.

[ameesdotme]

First we brought JavaScript to the back-end, now we're bringing JavaScript to shale gas extraction.