Introduction

The Energy Minerals Division (EMD) of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) is a membership-based, technical interest group having the primary goal of advancing the science of geology, especially as it relates to exploration, discovery, and production of unconventional energy resources. Current research on unconventional energy resources is rapidly changing and exploration and development efforts for these resources are constantly expanding. Nine summaries derived from 2011 committee reports presented at the EMD Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas in April, 2011, are contained in this review. The complete set of committee reports is available to AAPG members at http://emd.aapg.org/members_only/ annual2011/index.cfm. This report updates the 2006 and 2009 EMD unconventional energy review published in this journal (American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Energy Minerals Division 2007, 2009).