“The unconventional natural gas business may have already changed the overall supply and demand balance in North America, and perhaps globally,” said Barry Munro, Leader of Ernst & Young’s Canadian oil and gas practice. “It’s possible we could be onto something big.”

According to an article posted on Rigzone.com, global gas demand is expected to grow by 1.5 per year through to 2030, though gas demand can be influenced by unpredictable factors such as the state of the economy, and expanded long-term uses for new natural gas production.

While many of the initial shale gas discoveries have been on US soil, the “global battle is likely to be Asia” the article says.

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Over the past year, the Chinese government has been aggressively pursuing alternatives to crude oil, asking for natural gas to account for 10 per cent of the nation’s energy mix by 2020. It currently accounts for around 4 per cent.

In lieu of inviting foreign investors to China to extract the gas, however, Chinese state companies have pushed for a more independent approach wanting to extract, develop and sell the unconventional gas themselves.

These companies in turn have begun investing in companies familiar with hydraulic fracturing technologies and horizontal drilling methods – like Encana – in order to gain the knowledge of how to access this rich resource on Chinese soil.

“China is playing catch up to Asian rivals in the race to buy into North America’s shale gas sector,” an article published on Rigzone.com says, “underlining how the world’s second-largest energy consumer is waking up to the potential of a technology that could unlock a massive resource at home.”

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