Gas shale: Global Significance, Distribution, And Challenges

The prospects for and significance of shale gas are greater where there is a lack of existing conventional gas production, where there is proximity to demand, and where some form of existing gas distribution infrastructure exists. This chapter presents a summary of shale gas plays in prospective countries. It presents a statistical assessment of certain data subsets to illustrate where shale gas is located, the expected range of properties in terms of total organic carbon (TOC), depth, age, and basin type. It is known that Russia and the Middle East have considerable shale gas resources, but are unlikely to develop them in the next decade due to the abundance of conventional gas resources. For assessing the global resources, the authors have extracted data from EIA. The chapter presents some statistics and a detailed discussion on the distribution, geological characteristics, and general features of the shale gas plays.