Widespread exploitation of unconventional gas could reshape the world’s energy landscape, providing new sources of supply and strengthening competition in key markets. The United States has displayed rapid advances over the past decade, with 65% of 2012 natural gas production provided by unconventional sources, and production predicted to exceed consumption by 2020.
Realizing the Promise of the World’s Energy Revolution examines why these advances may prove hard to replicate in other countries, even where the appetite for development exists.
To develop a lasting solution, governments and energy companies will need to work together on five key issues. These are:
- Aligning policy and investment
- Addressing key uncertainties through regulation
- Developing high-quality institutional and infrastructure support
- Building confidence through data collection
- Engaging local stakeholder concerns early on
Failure to address these areas could result in a significant risk of policy reversal, abortive expenditures, execution failures, and the loss of trust.
