>I doubt XOM, or any other producer, is going the spend a hundred million $ punching deep holes into Mako to identify areas of the Szolnok with no microfractures.

Fractures are a good thing, unless they are filled with water. What they need to find are more fractures, but fractures that dont connect to an aquifer.

To date, much economic tight gas production relies upon the presence of open natural fracture systems. NETL’s natural gas program has supported research focused on developing advanced tools and methods that help predict the location of fractured tight gas reservoirs prior to drilling. These efforts include the development of advanced remote sensing technologies such as, multi-component, multi-azimuth seismic surveys , which aim to detect fractures and quantify their density and orientation prior to drilling. Other NETL supported research has demonstrated that advanced geomechanical analyses and computer based simulations can be used to predict areas most likely to contain open natural fractures in a given play and basin. Additional studies have sought to improve understanding of tight gas resources using: surface geochemical analyses, and remote satellite imagery (in conjunction with magnetic, electromagnetic and gravity data to assist in defining basement structural features including faults and associated natural fractures).