Selected elements of unconventional natural gas economics on the example of North American Energy market experience

Abstract

There is a several year experience concerning exploration and production of shale resources in the USA. First production wells started in 1996 (the history of hydraulic fracturing is even 40-50 years older), and last few years one can observe a huge impact on American economy and decreasing level of natural gas import. One can assume that the development will grow significantly and the USA will stay self-sufficient and can start exportation of hydrocarbons - especially LNG. The economy will decide about the share of the natural gas in energy mix - energy balance. In the paper there is a detailed discussion concerning economy of the shale exploration and production (i.e. the costs of drillings, services, geological conditions versus timings and schedule of production). Based on analyzed scope one can predict a stable progress in cost reduction (learning curves) linked with production of shale hydrocarbons.