Unconventional Oil & Gas

Unconventional oil and gas is extracted from non-traditional geologic sources. At Stanford, researchers are studying the geological, environmental and economic issues involved in extracting unconventional fossil fuels from shale (shale gas, tight oil), low-permeability rock (tight gas, tight oil), sand (oil or tar sands) and coal (coalbed methane). Additional information on shale gas can be found under the topic, "Natural Gas."