WHEN BHP Billiton forks out a lazy $4.75 billion in cash for a big US shale gas field, it means the whole shale gas concept has come of age.
While shale gas development is in its infancy in Australia, releasing gas by horizontal drilling and fracturing shale is predicted to eventually supply 45 per cent of the US gas market.
The revolutionary concept at a time of rising world energy prices mirrors the rapid development of coal seam gas in Queensland and NSW.
Shale gas exploration is being heavily encouraged in China and other countries eager to increase their energy self-sufficiency.
There is nothing to stop similar developments in Australia once domestic gas prices are high enough.
And that may happen sooner than we expect, given that world parity pricing will become a fact of life once the big Future is hale and hearty for shale gas | Herald Sun http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/future-is-hale-and-hearty-for-sha...
LNG plants being planned at Gladstone and elsewhere become a reality.
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