U.S. and Canada are the obvious leaders in shale development

May 12, 2015 | By Jaclyn Brandt

Despite the large amounts of shale oil and gas around the world, the United States and Canada are the only two countries that have produced commercial quantities of both. According to the Institute for Energy Research (IER), there is an estimated 7,299 trillion cubic feet of shale gas resources, and 345 billion barrels of shale oil, worldwide. That is compared to the 120 trillion cubic feet of shale gas is consumed each year.

Credit: EIA/Wikimedia Commons

Shale oil and gas continues to be an important source for crude oil production and natural gas production in the United States.

"Because shale oil and gas have proven to be quickly producible in large volumes at relatively low cost in the United States, shale oil and shale gas resources have spurred an oil and natural gas production renaissance in this country," IER said.

Gas production in the United States is largely from the Appalachian Basin's Marcellus Shale. In the area, gas production has grown from 4.8 billion cubic feet per day in 2011 to 14.6 billion cubic feet per day in 2014.

China and Argentina have ventured into both shale oil and gas production, but have only produced a small amount. According to IER, "Out of the four countries, only the United States is a major producer of both shale oil and gas."

Numerous other countries are currently exploring the possibilities with shale, including Algeria, Australia, Colombia, Mexico, and Russia.

"However, these countries have not demonstrated the logistics and infrastructure necessary to support commercial exploration and production," IER said, "nor do they have national policies regarding ownership of mineral rights, regulations, and taxes that are conducive for commercial resource development."

Despite the U.S. and Canada's commercial production of shale oil, Russia has the largest recoverable capacity the oil -- with 75 billion barrels. In comparison, the United States has 58 billion; China has 32 billion, and Argentina has 27 barrels. China has the most technically recoverable shale gas, at 1,115 trillion cubic feet. Argentina has 802 trillion cubic feet, Algeria has 707 trillion cubic feet, the United States has 665 trillion cubic feet, and Canada has 573 trillion cubic feet.

"Technically recoverable resources represent the volumes of oil and natural gas that could be produced with current technology, regardless of price and production costs; while economically recoverable resources are resources that can be profitably produced under current market conditions," IER said.

According to institute, 32 percent of total natural gas resources across the world are in shale formations, and 10 percent of oil resources are in shale or tight formations.

There are many factors that will restrict a country from recovering their shale resources. The costs associated with recovering oil and gas includes costs of drilling and completing the wells -- but the amount of oil or gas produced by the well, as well as the prices received, are what determines the viability of each well.

There are many factors that lead to the United States and Canada to be the optimal sources for shale resources, but many other countries -- especially the ones with a high amount of recoverable resources -- are working on improving technology to make it cost-effective.

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http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/us-and-canada-are-obvious-leaders-shale-development/2015-05-12