An Unconventional Approach Alters the Natural Gas Game According
to International Energy Agency, the world may have a lot more
natural gas than previously thought. The rise of “unconventional
gas” production has recently taken center stage, transforming
not only the outlook for the gas industry, but of the world
energy market and international energy politics. The popular
belief was that US natural gas production was on the decline due
to depleted resources. In reality, according to the IEA, the
production of unconventional gas in the US has in fact risen in
recent years. A few years ago, the United States was a net
importer. But in 2009, it transformed itself into the world’s
biggest gas producer, and by 2015 aims to become an LNG
exporter. Unconventional gas production has been increasing at
the same time that conventional production has been declining.
In fact, the IEA predicts that in 2020, US unconventional gas
production will almost double the conventional onshore. What are
unconventional gases? Unconve