Video: Shale gas to be extracted in Queensland
Explorers and producers have identified Queensland as a major target for Shale gas extraction. Australian and international unconventional gas players met last week at Shale World Australia to talk about the commercialisation of shale gas in Australia and ABC put together a video with some of the main topics from the conference including highlights from the Minister of Energy and Water Supply’s opening address.
Click here to see the video.
One of the obstacles that have to be faced in Queensland is the fact that most of the players will need foreign investment to be able to proceed with extracting the gas. International players are assessing Australia’s shale potential and the recent investment by Statoil (which could mean spending USD$120 million) shows that some are ready to take make their move.
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Algeria, the world’s fourth-largest gas exporter, has decided to develop its shale gas potential as well, but experts fear this could cause severe environmental problems.
Officials say the country’s shale gas reserves are 600 trillion cubic feet (17 trillion cubic metres), or around four times greater than its current known gas reserves.
Algeria may be the world’s eighth-largest natural gas producer in 2011, according to the BP Statistical Review of Energy, but domestic consumption is surging. Official forecasts say that, from 2019, local demand will eat up all the country’s production.
A new hydrocarbons bill, to be introduced in parliament in the coming weeks, encourages the exploration of unconventional gas and oil resources.
However, the effect on the environment of the production of shale gas is of great concern to ecologists.
Many Algerian experts say that the method used for obtaining the gas trapped in formations of shale rock could be geologically dangerous and also put a strain on the largely desert country’s water supplies.
The costs of shale gas exploitation are also high, Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yousfi said, and “exporters and importers will have to share the risk”.
And Yousfi’s predecessor, Nordine Ait Laoussine, said “there is still much left to do on the conventional side, not only in unexplored areas but also in those already in production.”
To develop its shale gas potential, Algeria’s hydrocarbons company Sonatrach has signed agreements with the Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell, Italian Eni and Canadian Talisman.
In 2011, Sonatrach drilled its first shale gas wells in the Ahnet basin near Tamanrasset, about 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) south of Algiers.