US Shale Gas Revolution and World Gas Supply Shock

Abstract

The US shale gas revolution has caused a substantial decline of US dependency on natural gas imports and has led to a significant decrease of spot prices for natural gas at Henry Hub. Given that the recent LNG development has been largely oriented towards the US market, this was the major reason for oversupply of natural gas, especially in LNG form, and caused a spot price decline for natural gas in Europe as well. The goal of this study is to address the following questions: a) when the USA will become fully independent of gas imports and will be able to export gas; b) whether shale gas technology is likely to make substantial changes in other continents.

Keywords: Shale gas, US gas balance, supply shock