A “global drilling rush” that focuses on extracting natural gas from shale formations is changing the way the world uses energy, writes Clifford Krauss in today’s The New York Times.
Krauss credits American companies such as Chesapeake Energy for pioneering technology that allows previously inaccessible supplies of shale gas to be tapped. The result has been a 40 percent gain in estimated U.S. reserves in recent years. European engineers are now traveling to Oklahoma, Texas, and Pennsylvania to study these techniques.
“One recent study by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting group, calculated that the recoverable shale gas outside of North America could turn out to be equivalent to 211 years’ worth of natural gas consumption in the United States at the present level of demand, and maybe as much as 690 years,” writes Krauss.
Energy expert Daniel Yergin was quoted as saying that the “projections suggest that the new method of producing gas ‘is the biggest energy innovation of the decade. And the amazing thing is there was no grand opening ceremony for it. It just snuck up.'”
“It’s a breakout play that is going to identify gigantic resources around the world,” said Rice University’s Amy Jaffe. “That will change the geopolitics of natural gas.”
The Times notes that “more extensive use of natural gas could aid in reducing global warming, because gas produces fewer emissions of greenhouse gases than either oil or coal. China and India, which have growing economies that rely heavily on coal for electricity, appear to have large potential for production of shale gas. Larger gas reserves would encourage developing countries to convert more of their transportation fleets to use natural gas rather than gasoline.
Read the article HERE.