To the contrary, investment capital will find profitable shale-gas production opportunities wherever they exist.
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Mr. Fu, for his part, appears eager for Sinopec to step up shale-gas exploration in China.
The development of shale-gas reserves beyond North America is still at an early stage.
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In Texas, the combination of hot summers and water shortages are pitting farmers against shale-gas developers.
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The IEA estimates that such measures would add 7% to the cost of the average shale-gas well.
The most ardent opponents to shale-gas exploitation are in France, which, along with Bulgaria, has declared a moratorium.
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Shell said it may be less than two years away from a major advance in shale-gas production in China.
Meanwhile, even if Mr Obama did not actively oppose the shale-gas boom, he did little to promote it either.
The IEA estimates that shale-gas production emits 3.5% more than conventional gas, and 12% when it involves venting excess gas.
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The result is, there is now a vociferous group of shale-gas (and oil) enthusiasts who have created a mini-bubble in shale.
Shell is also one of the companies looking at shale-gas reserves in China, which may be the largest on the planet.
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The IEA says such precautions would add 7% to the cost of a shale-gas well a small price for a healthy industry.
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There is also a risk that large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, could escape during shale-gas exploration and production.
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Chinese interest in shale gas is strong, with state companies buying up American expertise as they take stakes in established shale-gas producers.
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Still, the MIT report points out that shale-gas extraction uses less water than other industries, and indeed than other sources of energy.
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Samson owns drilling rights in several shale-gas formations, including in North Dakota.
Last year, China auctioned off its shale-gas blocks for the first time.
Chesapeake Energy, one of the biggest shale-gas firms, recently abandoned plans to drill in New York state after such worries were raised there.
Mr. Ershaghi, the USC professor, visited Beijing last July at his former student's request to lecture Sinopec managers and engineers on shale-gas production.
Coupled with a sensitivity to the rural charms of la France profonde, this has led to a moratorium on shale-gas exploration in France.
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Campaigners say they are braced for a new fight against fracking plans in West Sussex as the government earmarks tax breaks for the shale-gas industry.
The shale-gas revolution has been, like all revolutions, a mixed blessing.
The main sign of this now is the development of the shale-gas market in America, which has caused a collapse in natural-gas prices in that country.
China has said that shale-gas pricing will be market-based, which is vague but suggests that producers can charge higher prices than the state-controlled system currently allows.
For example, if one adds up the wet-gas production from all the shale-gas plays, the answer would be far in excess of the total dry-gas production nationwide.
The natural gas industry has argued that flawed casing practices used while drilling shale-gas wells were responsible for methane contamination in drinking water supplies surrounding shale-gas wells.
The government is considering an independent report on fracking, and the British Geological Survey is due to report on the UK's shale-gas resources early in the new year.
Most countries in Europe lack both the small wildcat exploration firms that spearheaded shale-gas exploitation in America, and the myriad competing oilfield-services firms that support them, thus driving down costs.
In Texas, the birthplace of the shale-gas revolution, there is currently a stand-off between the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas production.
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Shale-gas producers also face opposition from greens, who object to the industry's heavy water usage and a small risk that fracking could lead to contamination of aquifers and even to earthquakes.
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