Over the past year, the global fuel market has undergone serious changes. If the main role on the world stage has been played by natural gas and prices for it were constantly growing, then today it can be a serious competition for it can be a shale gas.
Many countries of the world, including the United States, Canada, Germany, Poland, have already begun the development of the found deposits of shale. The technology of mining this fuel is new, therefore, the cost of a cubic meter of shale gas today is quite high, familiar Butane, for example, much cheaper. But some companies have already been able to improve this technology and achieve a decrease in the cost of a thousand cubic meters by almost double — to $ 100.
Of course, such a cost and a small number of confirmed shale deposits do not yet allow us to talk about the emergence of a serious competition in the market. But some experts argue that over the next few years, European shale reserves can replenish another 14-17 trillion. M3. And American gas reserves are today estimated at 58 trillion. M3.
This situation can seriously affect Russia’s position in the global fuel market. Many countries will simply refuse to purchase blue fuel at prices set by Gazprom and switch to their own security. For example, more recently, Poland announced the identification of more than 1.3 trillion in the country. M3 shale gas. If this information will be confirmed by experts, in the future Poland will ensure its needs to be fully and will be able to enter the European market as a serious gas supplier.
A similar situation is observed in the United States of America. More recently, about five years ago, gas reserves in the United States almost ended, and the country planned to become one of the main importers of blue fuel. Today, the situation has changed dramatically: the slate deposits are open in the country and the technologies of its production are improved. Due to which America will be able to provide its gas needs at the expense of its own deposits for about 150 years. Such a development of events stirred the world fuel market. Of course, we are talking about gas, oil and diesel fuel delivery — all this is still in the usual condition for the last period of time.
However, not all experts are so optimistic in relation to shale gas production. They justify their point of view by several arguments.
First of all, they say that preliminary data on the existing reserves of shale gas must be confirmed before drawing serious conclusions.
The next argument of skeptics is a possible decrease in the cost of natural gas. If this really happens, most companies will inexplicably continue the expensive development of shale gas deposits. However, on the other hand, even if the cost of Russian natural gas decreases to $ 230/thousand. M3, and the cost of thousands of cubic meters of shale will remain at $ 180-200, many countries will prefer to develop their own deposits, and not invest in importing gas from Russia.
