London (Platts)--17Sep2013/657 am EDT/1057 GMT

Potentially recoverable tight oil reserves outside the United States could amount to 300 billion barrels, 175 billion of which is contained in just 23 plays, leading consultancy IHS said Tuesday.

"The world has large potential technical recoverable resources of tight oil possibly several times those of North America," IHS said. "Commercial production of these resources could equal and exceed the current estimates for North America tight oil output."

IHS said it had analyzed 148 areas across the world for its study, Going Global: Predicting the Next Tight Oil Revolution, which it said confirmed the widespread geological potential of tight oil.

"In particular, the study identifies the 23 highest-potential plays throughout the world and found that the potential technically recoverable resources of just those plays is likely to be 175 billion barrels -- out of almost 300 billion for all 148 play areas analyzed for the study," the company said.

"While it is too early to assess the proportion of this that could be commercially recovered, the potential is significant compared [with] the commercially recoverable resources of tight oil (43 billion barrels) estimated in North America by previous IHS studies."

As well as the Vaca Muerta formation in Argentina, the Silurian "hot" shales in North Africa and the Bazhenov Shale in West Siberia, the 23 highest-ranking plays include lesser-known geological plays in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

--Margaret McQuaile, margaret.mcquaile@platts.com
--Edited by John-Laurent Tronche, john-laurent.tronche@platts.com

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