The US has the largest recoverable shale gas reserves and the second largest recoverable shale oil reserves in the world. It also enjoys a technological lead in shale energy technologies, and it already has a vast network of pipelines, refineries, and ports in the energy sector that can be repurposed for shale gas and oil (though much more investment will be needed).

IHS estimates that in 2012, developments in the shale energy industry increased households real disposable income by more than 1,200. Thus the shale revolution represents a huge stimulus for America, in terms of investment, exports, and a reduction in energy costs.

Many Parties provided information on alternative energy resources and mentioned that these include photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, oil shale, and biomass energy.

Shale gas is a clean energy resource. It is understood that the completion of the 10 billion cubic meter shale gas field will help cut 12 million tonnes of CO2 emission annually.

First, fracking s opponents worry that shale gas will displace renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. But the fact is that CO2 emissions cannot be reduced without cutting coal use, and shale gas is already displacing coal in the US.

The question today is whether a new upsurge of investment will come to our rescue. Optimists point to the shale energy revolution in the US.

The dynamics of the energy markets changed notably as shale oil production came onstream at a market moving scale in 2013 2014. With this new source meeting more of world energy demand, particularly in the US, energy users were no longer as dependent on OPEC and other oil producers.

Growth in shale energy will mean more investment, production, and jobs in the energy sector itself. Lower gas prices will boost manufacturing production, particularly in downstream industries like petrochemicals and primary metals that use natural gas as fuel and feedstock.

Shale Gas to the Rescue?

The Shale Revolution s Global Footprint

Growth in energy and energy intensive industries will fuel additional demand, output, and employment across a wide swath of supporting activities, including transportation, construction, and professional services. Overall, McKinsey estimates that growth in shale energy could add 2 4 to annual GDP and create up to 1.7 million jobs by 2020.

I am not in a position either to judge the quantitative impact of shale energy on the US economy and, via growth there, on the rest of the world, or to comment on its geopolitical consequences or net effect on carbon emissions. But it does seem to me that contemporary apostles of secular stagnation like Summers and Paul Krugman at least ought to be taking the shale energy revolution into account.

It is understood that Chongqing currently owns 18 shale gas exploration rights established by Ministry of Land and Resources as the first domestic shale gas mining rights the Sinopec Fuling shale gas field.

BRUSSELS The global energy community is abuzz with excitement about hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a newish technology that has opened formerly inaccessible reserves of gas trapped in underground shale formations. The boom in this so called shale gas production has allowed the United States to become almost self sufficient in natural gas.

But extracting shale energy involves environmental risks and uncertainties, among them groundwater contamination, higher methane emissions, and potential seismic effects. And shale gas emits CO2 when burned, even though it has half the carbon content of coal and has played a significant role in cutting US carbon emissions to mid 1990 s levels.

PRAGUE In late June, the British Geological Survey announced the world s largest shale gas field. The Bowland Shale, which lies beneath Lancashire and Yorkshire, contains 50 more gas than the combined reserves of two of the largest fields in the United States, the Barnett Shale and the Marcellus Shale.

pelting them with stones of shale,

pelting them with stones of shale,

But extracting shale energy involves environmental risks and uncertainties, among them groundwater contamination, higher methane emissions, and potential seismic effects. And shale gas emits CO2 when burned, even though it has half the carbon content of coal and has played a significant role in cutting US carbon emissions to mid 1990 s levels. 160

But Europe cannot build an industrial strategy on cheap energy. Unlike the United States and China, which the International Energy Agency estimates possess the world s largest shale gas deposits, Europe cannot rely on its limited energy reserves to lower prices especially given that its greater population density makes extraction more difficult, and thus prohibitively expensive.

In fact, estimates by the International Energy Agency suggest that the most significant recoverable reserves of shale gas are in the US and China, not Europe. Moreover, even these estimates are really not much more than educated guesses, because only in the US have shale formations been subject to intense exploration over a period of decades.

Europe, by contrast, is clearly lagging. Exploration is proceeding only hesitantly and shale gas production has not even started, prompting many observers to lament that Europe is about to miss the next energy revolution.

And shale is not quite completely competent rock.

Falling oil prices may provide cheaper energy for manufacturers and households, but they hurt energy exporters and their spending. And, while increased supply particularly from North American shale resources has put downward pressure on prices, so has weaker demand in the eurozone, Japan, China, and many emerging markets.

This will require massive investments in new technologies and resources, not a fight to the finish over Middle East oil. Important energy technologies will include conversion of coal to liquids (such as gasoline), use of tar sands and oil shale, and growth in non fossil fuel energy sources.

As a result, energy will be significantly cheaper in the US than in Europe or China for the foreseeable future. Indeed, shale gas extraction is so economically favorable that even American gas exported to Europe would cost 30 less than what the Russian energy giant Gazprom currently charges.

The impact of shale energy on South America is twofold. For starters, there is the potential for cheaper imports for those countries with no gas (Chile) or where local demand could exceed local supply (Brazil).

CAMBRIDGE Oil prices have plummeted 40 since June good news for oil importing countries, but bad news for Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and other oil exporters. Some attribute the price drop to the US shale energy boom.

A NAFTA 2.0 could focus on areas that were originally excluded, such as labor mobility and energy. The development of Canadian oil sands, the shale energy revolution in the US, and the opening of Mexico s oil sector to foreign investment imply the biggest geopolitical shift since the collapse of communism.

Nor are earlier trade balances about to reemerge. America s trade position will be strengthened by the shale gas revolution, which promises energy self sufficiency, and by increases in productivity that auger further re shoring of manufacturing production.

Indeed, the revolution in non conventional hydrocarbons, particularly shale gas and oil, which the International Energy Agency recently predicted would make the US the world s largest oil producer by 2020, and the top energy producer overall by 2030, will have enormous global repercussions. For the US, energy self sufficiency is the perfect excuse for a phased withdrawal from the Middle East freed from energy dependency, America should be able to concentrate on the Pacific.

Indeed, the International Energy Agency estimates that the additional precautions needed to ensure shale gas wells environmental safety including careful attention to seismic conditions, properly sealed shafts, and appropriate waste water management add only about 7 to the cost.

In the short run, the US shale energy revolution has replaced high polluting coal with cheaper, cleaner natural gas. This has cut about 300 million tons of US emissions more than all the world s solar and wind power combined and at the same time has profited Americans by saving them 100 billion in energy costs.

But the recent collapse in oil prices could change this dynamic. In refusing to cut its own production, Saudi Arabia seems to be hoping that low oil prices will drive down investment in US shale energy, undermining production growth there.

Indeed, we should expect an even sharper reduction in US energy output as persistently low prices increase the pressure on domestic producers. From the shutdown of additional rigs to the curtailment of new investment in exploiting shale resources, the US will likely experience a fall in its absolute energy production, as well as in its share of world output.

At the same time, while America may no longer be the international actor that it once was, domestic production of shale oil and gas appears set to re write the US energy equation as it could for France and other Western countries, which may one day be able to do without the energy supplied by the Middle East.

Even the much heralded shale gas revolution is a lot of hype similar to the gold rushes and stock bubbles of the past. Shale gas wells deplete far more rapidly than conventional fields do.

Even in the US, where cheap shale gas is reshaping the energy industry, more wind power was connected to the grid last year than gas, and, in the first three months of this year, more than 80 of new capacity was renewable.

Even the much heralded shale gas revolution is a lot of hype 160 similar to the gold rushes and stock bubbles of the past. Shale gas wells deplete far more rapidly than conventional fields do.

But now a new and powerful factor could change this dismal political equation shale gas, which is already having an important effect on the United States and its economy. With US natural gas prices down to just over 4 per million BTU (from 13 just a few years ago), even prudent analysts expect the shale energy revolution to increase America s potential economic growth and add as many as two million new jobs.

In this sense, China s trajectory contrasts sharply with that of the United States, where the rapid growth in output of shale oil and gas, together with energy saving measures, has brought energy independence closer than ever a point that President Barack Obama emphasized in his most recent State of the Union address. In fact, according to the US Energy Information Administration, China surpassed the US as the world s largest net oil importer earlier this year.

Technological advances and innovation have begun to turn the longstanding dream of energy independence into a reality. Whereas extraction of America s extensive reserves of natural gas was previously thought to be unfeasible, technologies such as hydraulic fracturing ( fracking ) have ushered in a shale gas revolution.

and We made its topmost part its nethermost, and rained on them stones of shale.

and We made its topmost part its nethermost, and rained on them stones of shale.

The technology of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, by which shale and other tight rock formations at great depths are bombarded with water and chemicals, has released major new supplies of both natural gas and oil. America s shale gas industry grew by 45 annually from 2005 to 2010, and the share of shale gas in America s overall gas production grew from 4 to 24 .