Tech Trends 2015 Integrated Software Helps Improve EUR Emerging technical software solutions are driving a new set of geoscientific and engineering workflows that give operators the critical insights needed to improve estimated ultimate recovery in tight oil reservoirs. By Duane Dopkin and Jean-Claude Dulac HOUSTON-Tight oil reservoirs have assumed a noticeable and influential position in the world's crude oil supply, with production from new oil field "giants" such as the Eagle Ford and Bakken/Three Forks pushing U.S. crude oil supply to more than 10 percent of the world's total, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As production from these fields continues to grow, geoscientists and engineers remain challenged as to how to boost estimated ultimate recovery from these tight reservoirs. While the overwhelming successes of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations have resulted in a new brand for these assets- "technology reservoirs"-it is somewhat ironic that the industry's poor understanding of reservoir performance can be attributed to the underutilization of new technologies that better explain the heterogeneities that characterize low-permeability reservoirs. JANUARY 2015 127