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What is shale gas?

DATE:2014-01-08 | comments: | posted by:liuailin

Shale gas is found in shale "plays," which are shale formations containing significant accumulations of natural gas and which share similar geologic and geographic properties.Shale gas is a natural gas (predominantly methane) found in shale rock. Natural gas produced from shale is often referred to as ‘unconventional’ and this refers to the type of rock type in which it is found.

Shale gas is natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Shale gas has become an increasingly important
source of natural gas in the United States since the start of this century, and interest has spread to potential gas shales
in the rest of the world. In 2000 shale gas provided only 1% of U.S. natural gas production; by 2010 it was over 20% and
the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration predicts that by 2035, 46% of the United States' natural gas
supply will come from shale gas.


Some analysts expect that shale gas will greatly expand worldwide energy supply. China is estimated to have the world's
largest shale gas reserves. A study by the Baker Institute of Public Policy at Rice University concluded that increased shale
gas production in the US and Canada could help prevent Russia and Persian Gulf countries from dictating higher prices
for the gas they export to European countries.


The Obama administration believes that increased shale gas development will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions
(in 2012, US carbon dioxide emissions dropped to a 20-year low Human and public health will both benefit from shale
gas displacing coal burning.


Recent studies point to high rates of decline of some shale gas wells as an indication that shale gas production may
ultimately be much lower than is currently projected.[11][12] But shale-gas discoveries are also opening up substantial
new resources of tight oil / "shale oil"

Shale gas in China

Although production rates were small as of 2013, the volume of technically recoverable shale gas in China has been
estimated to be 1,115 trillion cubic feet, the largest of any country in the world. As of 2013, China is one of only three
countries (with the US and Canada) to produce shale gas in commercial quantities.
China is turning to natural gas as a way to decrease air pollution created by burning coal. In 2011, 70 percent of
China’s energy consumption came from coal, 18 percent from oil and only 4.5% came from natural gas. Although
 conventional natural gas production in China has increased rapidly since 2000, it has not kept up with demand,
and China has increasing imports of gas. In 2011, China consumed 147 bcm of natural gas, but produced only
107 bcm; the remainder, 27 percent of national consumption, was imported. Shale gas is seen as a way to reduce
or eliminate dependence on imported gas.

Resource estimates

In 2013, the US Energy Information Administration updated it estimation of China's shale gas reserves. It was
said that China had 1115 trillion cubic feet (31 trillion cubic meters) of recoverable shale gas.(EIA) has estimated
that China’s shale gas recoverable reservoirs is around 31 trillion cubic meters.
The majority of Chinese shale reserves are in 3 basins – Sichuan, Tarim and Yangtze Platform, accounting for
89% of the estimated national reserves.

Shale Gas vs. Conventional Gas

Conventional gas reservoirs are created when natural gas migrates toward the Earth's surface from an organic-rich
source formation into highly permeable reservoir rock, where it is trapped by an overlying layer of impermeable rock.
In contrast, shale gas resources form within the organic-rich shale source rock. The low permeability of the shale
greatly inhibits the gas from migrating to more permeable reservoir rocks. Without horizontal drilling and hydraulic
fracturing, shale gas production would not be economically feasible because the natural gas would not flow from
the formation at high enough rates to justify the cost of drilling. 

 
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