Shale Oil & Gas Will Not Quit

In Texas, the Eagle Ford shale formation is producing an incredible 500,000 barrels of oil a day. North Dakota's Bakken has similar production numbers.

The big impact of hydrocarbons from shale fracking may well be helping to moderate global oil prices, as the shale phenomenon spreads from North America to other continents. In the UK, shale energy is being increasingly seen as a way out of Britain's energy conundrum. More and more European countries are beginning to question whether their natural gas enslavement to Russia is truly necessary, given abundant shale gas resources.

Shale oil & gas companies have been extremely profitable in the US. Although natural gas prices have temporarily slumped on the current glut of North American gas supplies, shale drilling companies have shifted to production of shale oil and natural gas liquids in order to prop up profits.

New uses for natural gas, such as dual-fuel vehicles that can use either compressed natural gas or gasoline, and the conversion of natural gas to liquid fuels, chemicals, polymers, etc., will eventually bring natural gas prices back into the range of profitability for pure NG producers. At that point, production of NG will increase, leading into another economic cycle of price swings -- until yet new uses of natural gas are devised.

As many as 1 million new US jobs may result from the manufacturing stimulus caused by cheap, abundant shale gas.

The abundance of cheap shale gas in North America is causing headaches of its own. Perhaps every country should have such headaches?

If oil prices are being affected by shale gas, just wait until cheap, abundant gas hydrates ramp up production!

Eventually, of course, advanced nuclear power will come along to take over baseload electrical power production, freeing up natural gas for more high value uses -- including as peak and load following power, of course, along with all the chemical and material uses to which it will be put.