With shale oil deposits located as far north as North Dakota, running south into Texas, the opportunity for businesses to capitalize on the hydraulic fracturing technique continues to grow. One company that is successfully implementing this method is Cunningham Energy (more on Cunningham).

Companies are leaning on new techniques and technology to get more oil out of every well they drill, and they are furiously cutting costs in an effort to keep U.S. oil competitive with much lower-cost oil flowing out of the Middle East, Russia and elsewhere.