(FARMINGTON, N.M.) -- Oil and gas industry representatives say the New Mexico shale could hold the next boom, the Albuquerque Journal reports.

Executives from some of the largest companies came to San Juan College for a two-day conference with scholars and public officials to talk about the potential for an untapped section of the San Juan Basin known as the Mancos shale. Former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici said about 1.8 billion barrells of oil could be recovered from reservoirs in the Mancos shale, and mentioned hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling as technologies that could unlock the resources, the paper says.

The technologies have also opened up shales in the Northeast, Midwest and South over the past few years, according to the Journal.

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