Energy boom isn’t limited to the U.S.

I’ve mentioned the potential to see huge increase in oil and gas production in the U.S. in several posts. Start looking here, here, and here.

It’s not just the U.S. that could see huge increases in production. Check out these articles, courtesy of Carpe Diem:

Reuters:  Exclusive: UK has vast shale gas reserves, geologists say

New technology from the U.S. (that means fracking) could make large volumes of shale gas off the coast of UK economically viable, pushing England to the top of reserves worldwide.

Here’s the potential:

UK offshore reserves of shale gas could exceed one thousand trillion cubic feet (tcf), compared to current rates of UK gas consumption of 3.5 tcf a year, or five times the latest estimate of onshore shale gas of 200 trillion cubic feet.

Reserves of 200 tcf would put the UK in the top 20 countries with the highest shale reserves, alongside Brazil, and 1,000 tcf would put Britainin the same league as estimates for China, the United States and Argentina, top dogs in global shale potential.

That would be 285 years of current consumption offshore in addition to 57 years of consumption onshore.  I think that spells self-sufficiency.

I’m not the only one using superlatives to describe the potential impact of shale oil and gas. Check this out:

“We have potentially huge volumes present in the subsurface – the volumes are mind-blowingly big,” Melvyn Giles, global head of unconventional gas and light tight oil at Shell, said of Europe’s unconventional gas resources.

The second article is from Bloomberg: Freedom From Gazprom Tempts Ukraine as Exxon Hunts Shale

Ukraine gets their natural gas from Russia and is at their mercy, both in terms of availability and price.  I’ve been reading about that issue for a few decades.

What does that dependency look like? Try running an economy with this uncertainty hanging over your head:

Gazprom has twice in the past six years cut natural gas deliveries to Ukraine on New Year’s Day because of pricing disputes.

Great. Loose your natural gas supply at the whim of your supplier.

The potential?

The article says there are

…fields of shale rocks that the U.S. Geological Survey estimates will hold enough gas to fire the eastern European nation for 100 years or more.

A hundred year supply.  Self sufficiency means being out from under the thumb of Gazprom.

The hurdles are huge:

Up to now most foreign investors have been cautious in embracing Ukraine. The country’s unstable political climate, excessive red tape and high corruption levels have kept foreign business away, Radchenko said.

If Ukraine can clear the hurdles they could have enough natural gas for a century. No more having their gas supply shut off on a whim.

Someday maybe UK and Ukraine will be energy self-sufficient? Cool.