Thanks. I have ideas on how to make the article better, but the time investment is too much.

I was ending my engineering career just when the oil/gas shales were becoming exploitable. I am quite intrigued by the graphic I got from Wikipedia. Can the engineers really place a frack next to the boundary of the reservoir? Hmmmm.

Like many scientific endeavors, I'm pretty sure the modelling of petroleum reservoir has gotten better. I know the mining industry used a lot of analysis of stresses to ensure mines do not collapse (this is called "geotechnical engineering") It is plausible that this engineering field has gained greater importance within the petroleum industry. If fracks are indeed being taken to the edge, advanced geotechnical engineering would be required.

But to answer your question about predicting earthquakes and preventing them, I should admit that I do not know. The application of geotechnical engineering in oil/gas shales would be part of my research.

I left the petroleum industry in 1998 because of a long-term illness.