Skip to content

US To Massively Increase Shale Gas Production

January 30, 2012
tags:

By Paul Homewood

 

image

 

Since 1990, shale gas in the USA has already grown from 1.4% to 14.3% of total gas supply and as a result gas prices there are no higher than 10 years ago.

Now the US Department of Energy is planning for further massive increases in shale gas production by 2035, saying "This primarily reflects increased shale gas production resulting from the application of recent technological advances" . The agency said it expects the United States to export around 1.1 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per day starting in 2016. This would make the United States a net LNG exporter by that year.

So what about the UK, where we also have huge reserves? Both the Tyndall Centre and British Geological Survey have confirmed that there are no environmental reasons not to exploit the reserves we have. Even the Department of Energy say “In the light of the robust controls in place, outlined above, to protect the environment and ensure safe operation, DECC see no need for any moratorium on shale gas. This is also the view of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee which held an inquiry into shale gas earlier this year and took evidence from Government, regulators, the British Geological Survey, the oil and gas industry and environmental groups. “

So why are holding back? In the words of the Tyndall Centre :-

large scale extraction of shale gas cannot be reconciled with the climate change commitments enshrined in the Copenhagen Accord (2009)

So that’s alright then.

from → Climate Change
3 Comments
  1. Anonymous for tax purposes permalink
    February 12, 2012 8:47 pm

    When will our daft politicians wise-up and realise that global warming is NOT happening and that we NEED the large quantities of shale gas which is under our own feet, not some-one else’s?

  2. Brian H permalink
    February 20, 2012 8:34 pm

    Compliance with Copenhagen is a sure sign of suicidal tendencies. Just who (else) is meeting those “obligations”, btw? And what effect is it having on their state budgets and economies? Can you spell “devastation”?

Comments are closed.