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Traditionally, Russia and the Middle East have been the leading suppliers of fossil fuels. Despite initial skepticism, shale gas production has become a lucrative reality in North America. The ability to extract natural gas from shale has put the USA in the position where they now have enough supply to meet domestic demand for many years. Ten years ago, it was anticipated that USA would be increasing its imports of natural gas. Due to shale gas production, the USA can now meet its own natural gas requirements for many years to come.
This shale gas revolution has galvanized Europe and emerging countries to pursue developing indigenous supplies of natural gas in view of reducing their reliance on Russia and the Middle East for this energy source. These lands are becoming a hot commodity and prime targets for potential exploration with licenses being secured recently, by large scale companies, in Poland, Sweden and Germany. France recently launched a licensing round and other projects are currently underway in Argentina, Australia, China and India.
The rise in 2009 European natural gas prices has also furthered the interest of many European gas companies to look at the North American technology to unlock shale gas resources because the prize is huge, on many levels. It is anticipated that there is much shale gas to be discovered in the coming years and many countries will suddenly emerge as major natural gas producers. The net effect of this should be significant and trigger the decline in energy reliance on energy imports from Russia and the Middle East.
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