Drilling in the Marcellus Shale, and in other unconventional oil and gas formations across the US, has led to a boom in domestic natural gas and oil production -– largely due to advances in high volume…
Downgrades to shale gas estimates are hardly surprising.
Calin Tatu
The recent confidence in shale gas was likely premature, according to several new reports published in the US. In particular a study from the University of Texas claims the US boom will tail off by 2020…
Listen up historians!
President Obama image from www.shutterstock.com
Aided and abetted by a disciplined Republican party, a common meme in the American media is the foreign policy failure of the Obama administration. The purported evidence is there for all to see. It includes…
Fracking for gas - not a silver bullet for emissions reduction.
US Geological Survey/Wikimedia Commons
The boom in natural gas supplies brought about by techniques like fracking will not automatically deliver the anticipated cuts to greenhouse emissions, a new analysis has warned. Burning natural gas produces…
Better get our heads out of the sand and run.
Peter Byrne/PA
The consistent message from those who would seek to exploit shale gas is that it has three distinct advantages over existing forms of fossil fuel energy: it is cheap, it has a lower influence on global…
Is the sun setting on West African oil? A platform in Limbe, Cameroon.
VirginieVV
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the US made a point of diversifying its sources of oil to reduce dependence on the Middle East. It was a strategic move which promised a huge boost to West African…
Smoke pours from the Baiji oil refinery, the largest in Iraq, by some reports under the control of ISIS forces.
EPA/STR
The mid-June penetration of northwestern Iraq by the extreme Islamist movement ISIS has prompted major concerns about the world’s oil supply and energy security. The group’s incursion threatens Iraq’s…
It depends if the price is right, it seems.
Peter Byrne/PA
There has been an anxious search for new sources of fossil fuels, and shale gas appears to offer Britain a key national resource. But the nation’s new-found hydrocarbon wealth has met with far from universal…
The Shale UK Summit conference is underway in London, bringing together geological, petroleum, engineering and energy economics experts. Despite all this expertise, and although much of the fracking technology…
The UK doesn’t yet have the infrastructure for fracking.
Green Energy Futures
If fracking is to be a viable option for energy production, the industry must find a way to deal with the naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) that are released as a byproduct of the process…
David Elmes, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Debate over the development of shale gas in the UK and its potential benefits has intensified in recent weeks as the prime minister visited a fracking site in Lincolnshire to make announcements over how…
Is this a sunset, or sunrise, for fracking?
danielfoster437
While the prime minister has shown unequivocal support for exploiting Britain’s shale gas reserves, stating the country should “go all out for shale gas”, more cautious voices point to possible effects…
Will countries outside the US take on the risks of shale oil?
Flickr/ Randy Udall
The US is in the midst of an oil boom. Shale gas has grabbed much attention, and rightly so. But it is shale oil (a light, crude oil found in shale or tight sandstone, and also known also as tight oil…
Unlike Queensland, it’s very unlikely there will be fracking for coal seam gas in Victoria.
Simon Townsley, QGC AUSTRALIA
While New South Wales and Queensland have moved to exploit unconventional gas resources, Victoria maintains a ban on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for onshore shale gas and coal seam gas (CSG). Those…
Oil and gas production is growing in the US, mainly thanks to unconventional production methods.
EPA/Jim Lo Scalzo
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported: The U.S. is overtaking Russia as the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas, a startling shift that is reshaping markets and eroding…
Drilling in Balcombe and in Lancashire, pictured, has caused a frack load of fuss.
Cuadrilla
Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Davey, reignited the row over fracking this week, when he insisted this method of extracting shale gas was no “great evil” and could act as a bridge to a “green…
Protesters have sought to highlight uncomfortable truths.
John Stillwell/PA
Energy Minister Michael Fallon’s recent comments about the impact of fracking on communities in the leafy Home Counties (“We are going to see how thick their rectory walls are, whether they like the flaring…
Serious about capitalising on shale gas.
HM Treasury
Last week, Chancellor George Osborne announced a 30% tax rate on shale gas production. Representing a 32% reduction on the standard rate for oil and gas companies, the move is the latest in a series of…
Foundation essay: This article on the different international attitudes to fracking by Professor John Paterson, Chair in Law at Aberdeen University, is part of a series marking the launch of The Conversation…