The "Shale Revolution" in the United States: the Factors of Emergence and Impact on the Global Energy Market

The "shale revolution" refers to a combination of various factors that allowed the United States to significantly increase oil and natural gas production, especially from hard-to-recover oil reservoirs. Thus, in 2000, shale gas accounted for only 1.6 % of total natural gas production in the United States, by 2005 this figure had grown to 4.1 %, and by 2010-to 23.1 %. The phenomenon of the "shale revolution" aroused interest around the world because of its impact on global energy markets and because of the possibility of repeating the success of the United States in the production of shale gas and oil by other countries. A number of countries, including China and Argentina, are already in the process of developing their own shale gas resources. Although it is not possible to determine the necessary conditions for the development of unconventional resource extraction in each region, but the review of the US experience can give the understanding of the factors that contributed to this. This study will assess the economic, technological, and institutional environment in the United States in order to answer the question of what exactly led to the "shale revolution". In addition, the work will assess the situation of the shale industry, as well as the contributing and constraining factors of its development in Argentina and China, regions where some success has already been achieved in the production of shale oil and gas.