What's After Shale?  

11:30 Lunch 12:00 Presentation

Bryan McDowell

Founder & Managing Partner

Sabata Energy Consultants, Midland, TX

Abstract

U.S. shale production has fueled historic growth, but expansion is slowing in mature basins like the Permian. As capital discipline increases and inventory quality declines, the industry must decide what comes next.

This presentation evaluates three strategic paths forward: Exploitation, Re-Entry, and Exploration. While exploitation and re-entry extend existing assets, true long-term upside lies in renewed exploration. Yet exploration today faces reduced risk tolerance, diminished technical depth, and fragmented subsurface datasets, with millions of well logs stranded in paper or legacy formats.

Using large-scale empirical analysis of well log header data, specifically bottomhole temperature (maturity proxy) and mud weight (pressure proxy), this talk demonstrates how regional trends can be mapped, tiered, and blind-tested to identify overlooked opportunities in mature basins.

Shale is not finished, but the next phase of growth will require a return to geologic fundamentals supported by disciplined, data-driven exploration.

Biography

Bryan McDowell is a reservoir engineer and geologist specializing in subsurface data integration and visualization for oil and gas exploration and development. He is the founder of Sabata Energy Consultants, one of the largest private holders of geological data, managing roughly 3 million digital files and 5 million physical documents.

Bryan holds a B.S. in Geology from Texas A&M University and an M.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Colorado School of Mines, where he is completing his Ph.D. in Geology. With more than 15 years of experience in unconventional reservoirs, he has worked extensively across the Permian Basin, Rockies, and Mid-Continent.