Making sense of the 'overnight' shale gas revolution

Each country that is prospective for shale gas is following its unique overnight revolution trajectory. In the US, especially to economically develop low-permeability gas reservoirs in ultradeep environments, operators sought to drill horizontally, thus remaining in the pay zone for distances up to several hundred meters in order to enhance production. The US benefited from a tax incentive introduced in 1980 which, along with high gas prices, jump-started US tight gas exploitation. Oil and gas-rich Middle Eastern countries have sought to export their excess hydrocarbon resources due to lesser demand, as they are encompassed within far smaller geographic areas than the US, a limitation compounded by their being far less amenable to human habitation. China made progress during 2011, although it does not yet have any commercial shale gas production. In late March 2011, China National Petroleum Corporation unit PetroChina, with partner Royal Dutch Shell, completed the country's first horizontal shale gas well at Weiyuan in Sichuan province.