World Shale Gas Resources: An Initial Assessment of 14 Regions Outside of the United States, Plus Comprehensive Coverage of Hydraulic Fracturing, Fracking, Environmental Risks (CD-ROM)

This outstanding collection of official documents and publications about shale gas and hydraulic fracturing includes the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2011 report, World Shale Gas Resources, An Initial Assessment of 14 Regions Outside the United States. Initial assessments of 48 shale gas basins in 32 countries suggest that shale gas resources, which have recently provided a major boost to U.S. natural gas production, are also available in other world regions. A new EIA-sponsored study reported initial assessments of 5,760 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of technically recoverable shale gas resources in 32 foreign countries, compared with 862 Tcf in the United States. In 2010, U.S. shale gas production reached 4.87 Tcf (23 percent of total U.S. natural gas production), compared with 0.39 Tcf in 2000. This shows both the rapid growth and absolute importance of the shale gas resource to the United States. Rising production from shale gas resources has been credited with both lower natural gas prices and declining dependence on imported natural gas. As is often the case with resource development, shale gas production also has raised local environmental concerns, largely centering on the amount of water used in the fracturing process and the need to handle, recycle, and treat fracturing fluids in a manner that addresses the risk of spills that can potentially affect water quality. EIA's Annual Energy Outlook 2011 Reference case also reflects the growing importance of U.S. shale gas. It projects that shale gas will account for about 46 percent of U.S. natural gas production in 2035. Do other countries have similar opportunities to develop shale gas? Technically recoverable natural gas resources in the assessed basins totaled 5,760 Tcf. Adding the estimated U.S. shale gas technically recoverable resources (862 Tcf) to the assessments in the study gives a total of 6,622 Tcf. For comparison, most current estimates of world technically recoverable natural gas resources include few if any of the resources assessed in this study and total about 16,000 Tcf. Thus, adding the identified shale gas resources to other gas resources increases total world technically recoverable resources by over 40 percent to over 22,000 Tcf. Estimates of shale gas resources in other parts of the world are highly uncertain. The practicality of using such resources has only recently become apparent, and many countries are just now beginning to understand how to conduct assessments of how much shale gas they may have. Nonetheless, the aggregate estimate is probably quite conservative, since the study excluded several major types of potential shale gas resources: Contents include material from the EPA, USGS, Department of Energy, U.S. Congress, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and others. There is a complete reproduction of EPA public meeting comments from events in Texas, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and New York, offering valuable insight into the controversy. Technical documents and regulations provide unique details and understanding. An up-to-date primer from the U.S. Department of Energy provides a comprehensive overview of shale gas production in the United States - including the use of hydraulic fracturing - and environmental protection issues, especially water resource management. Contents include: The Importance Of Shale Gas * The Role of Natural Gas in the United States Energy Portfolio * The Advantages of Natural Gas * Natural Gas Basics * Unconventional Gas * The Role of Shale Gas in Unconventional Gas * Looking Forward * Shale Gas Development * Geology * Sources of Natural Gas Shale Gas * Barnett Shale * Fayetteville Shale * Haynesville Shale * Marcellus Shale * Woodford Shale * Antrim Shale * New Albany Shale * Regulatory Framework * Federal Environmental Laws * State * Local Regulation