What is Tight Oil?

Tight oil, also known as shale oil, is extracted from impermeable rock using hydraulic fracturing, a process that is more energy-intensive and polluting than conventional drilling. In the United States, tight oil's share of domestic production rose from 23 percent in 2011 to 45 percent in 2013. Key environmental concerns include flaring of associated natural gas, fugitive methane emissions, and pollution of water, air, and noise. The document argues that transitioning to cleaner transportation technologies and improving extraction infrastructure can reduce the reliance on and emissions from tight oil.

• Tight oil production in the United States increased significantly from 2011 to 2013, with shale deposits in North Dakota, New York, and Texas contributing to a rise from 23 percent to 45 percent of domestic oil production.
• The extraction of tight oil is more polluting than conventional oil due to the energy-intensive nature of fracking and the practice of flaring excess natural gas at well sites, which increases global warming emissions.
• Beyond climate emissions, tight oil extraction poses risks of noise, air, and water pollution near drilling sites, as well as the risk of oil spills during transport via pipes, trains, and trucks.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2015). What is Tight Oil? https://www.ucs.org/resources/what-tight-oil

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. What is Tight Oil? 2015. https://www.ucs.org/resources/what-tight-oil.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=What is Tight Oil? |date=3 March 2015 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/what-tight-oil |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2015what, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{What is Tight Oil?}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2015}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/what-tight-oil}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }