New EIA Report Increases Global Shale Estimates

Global shale gas estimates were increased by 10.2 % from 2011, as the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expanded its assessment of shale gas resources.

The new report released on Monday presents estimates on 95 basins in 41 countries, taking into consideration 47 new basins and 9 countries not analysed in the 2011 report.

According to the 2013 report, the top five countries for technically recoverable shale gas resources are China (1,115 trillion cubic feet), Argentina (802), Algeria (707), US (665) and Canada (573). The top three countries for shale oil resources are Russia (75 billion barrels), US (58) and China (32).

The report does not assess all prospective shale formations due to a lack of data.

“While the current report considers more shale formations than were assessed in the previous version, it still does not assess many prospective shale formations, such as those underlying the large oil fields located in the Middle East and the Caspian region,” reads the report, adding that the estimates are “highly uncertain and will remain so until they are extensively tested with production wells.”

“Globally, 32% of the total estimated natural gas resources are in shale formations, while 10% of estimated oil resources are in shale or tight formations,” reads the report.

The 2013 study incorporates “more complete and better quality geological data on many of the shale formations examined” in the 2011 report. It considers also the results of the explorations in countries such as Argentina, China, Mexico, and Poland.

“Shale gas resource estimates for some formations were revised lower in the current report, including those for Norway's Alum Shale, Poland's Lublin Basin, Mexico's Eagle Ford Shale in the Burgos Basin, South Africa's Karoo Basin, and China's Qiongzhusi Shale in the Sichuan Basin and the Lower Cambrian shales in the Tarim Basin,” writes the US Energy Information Administration in the note.