Once an exciting prospect on the international energy scene, China’s long-awaited shale gas boom has failed to materialise, with interest waning as oil prices fall. Eventually, however, the country’s hunger for energy will trump all other concerns
Prior to its use with oil, the technique of fracking was actually pioneered for use in shale gas extraction; Mitchell Energy produced the first shale gas in the north of Texas in 2000. The technological process behind fracking involves extracting gas from sedimentary rocks, through a mixture of horizontal drilling and hydraulically fracturing rocks – hence the name ‘fracking’. Since 2000, natural gas production has surged, lowering the cost of the energy source around the world. Increasingly, it is now favoured over other cheap sources of energy such as coal. However, despite a crash in prices – as happened with the fracking revolution in petroleum oil – production has not fallen in a major way. Rather, shale gas is set for a continued boom.