Academia and Independent E&P Companies: A Win-Win Partnership

Independents play an important role in the oil and gas industry. They specialize in unconventional fi eld development and are largely credited with the shale gas boom that has occurred in the US. Despite this success, they differ from the large, integrated majors in that they usually have limited or no research and development (R&D) capability. In order to remain competitive, independents commonly rely on academia to meet this need. This article presents three important R&D realms that demonstrate good collaborative efforts between independents and academic research institutions.