US offers international help with shale gas extraction

The US has offered to help developing countries use shale gas as a cleaner alternative to coal.

Making the offer at a conference earlier this week involving 20 countries, US officials pointed to national security and climate change mitigation as key drivers.

Shale gas is derived from underground shale deposits that are broken up using a process known as hydraulic fracturing. Liquid is injected into faults in the shale, extending them and opening them up, which in turn frees up gas to be lifted to the surface.

The hydraulic fracturing process involved with shale gas extraction comes with its own severe environmental implications and it costs more to recover than conventional gas or coal. But, proponents argue, even accounting for the environmental penalty of extraction, burning shale gas is less carbon intensive than burning coal – which is the only viable alternative for many countries.

Analyst reports suggest that shale gas could provide up to half of America’s gas supply by 2020. And a study by Rice University indicates that US and Canadian shale gas could could help European countries reduce their dependence on Russian gas supplies.

State-owned Russian gas export company Gazprom cut off supplies to the Ukraine in early 2009 over payment disputes. It took similar steps with Belarus this June.

Reports suggest that developing countries are already moving to capitalise on their own shale deposits and others overseas. China opened a centre to research shale gas earlier this month, based on data suggesting that it may have up to 30 trillion cubic metres of the resource at its disposal.

Indian state-run oil company Oil India also announced that it would partner with several banks and other Indian oil companies to acquire shale gas deposits in the US or Australia during this fiscal year.