Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Given the variation across the world's shale formations in both geology
and above-ground conditions, the extent to which global technically recov-
erable shale resources will prove to be economically recoverable is not yet
clear.
The impact that shale gas will have on the UK gas supply situation and the
price to gas customers is impossible to determine due to the large amount of
uncertainty.
Lord Browne, one of the most powerful energy figures in the UK and
Chairman of Cuadrilla, the leading shale gas company in the UK, told an
audience at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Eco-
nomics (LSE) on the 27
th
November 2013,
''I don't know what the contribution of shale gas will be to the energy mix
of the UK. We need to drill probably 10 to 12 wells and test them and it needs
to be done as quickly as possible.
''We are part of a well-connected European market and unless it is a gi-
gantic amount of gas, it is not going to have a material impact on price.''
45
These two sentences effectively sum up the situation within the UK at this
time (December 2013).
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this chapter are those of the author and do not ne-
cessarily reflect the position or policy of the Institution of Gas Engineers and
Managers.
References
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100-109; http://www1.gly.bris.ac.uk/bumps/secure/POTW/Selley_2012.
pdf (last accessed 16/01/2014).
2. D. Donohue, N. Anstey and N. Morrill, Shale Gas in the Southern
Central Area of New York State, US Dept, Energy, Morgantown, 1981, vol.
4, 578.
3. R. E. Zielinski and R. D. Mclver, Resources and Exploration Assessment
of the Oil and Gas Potential in the Devonian Shale Gas of the Appa-
lachian Basin. US Dept. of Energy, Morgantown, 1998.
4. R. C. Selley, British shale gas potential scrutinized, Oil Gas J., 1987, 15,
62-64.
5. J. B. Curtis, Fractured shale-gas systems, Bull. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 2002,
86, 1921-1938.
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M. Schoell, Genetic and temporal relations between formation waters
and biogenic methane. Upper Devonian Antrim Shale, Michigan Basin,
USA, Geochim. Cosmochem. Acta., 1998, 62(10), 1699-1720.
7. West Virginia Surface Owners' Rights Organisation, Why multiple
horizontal wells from centralized well pads should be used for the
