Sunday, April 24, 2011

Argentina has world's third largest shale gas reserves

According to a April 2011 report of the US Department of Energy, Argentina has 774 trillion cubic feet ( tcf ) of technically recoverable reserves which is the third largest in the world. China has the largest reserves of 1275 tcf followed by USA with 862 tcf. Commercial production has already started in USA where shale gas is considered as the ¨Game Changer¨in the gas market of USA. In China, shale gas project is a priority in the current five year plan.

Reliance has acquired some shale gas blocks in USA.

Mexico has the fourth largest shale reserves of 681 tcf. Brazil has 226 tcf. The rest of Latin America does not have significant reserves.

Most of the shale gas find in Argentina is in the patagonian region where oil and gas are produced already.

The Argentine shales are said to be two or three times thicker than the North American ones. This means production volume could be higher.

At present Argentina is producing natural gas and is supplementing it with imports from Bolivia.

Shale gas could be a Game Changer for Argentina too. Many foreign companies are already making moves. Exxon Mobile has already acquired a block. Repsol, Petrobras, Total and Apache are making entries.

IFFCO of India has invested 25 million dollars in a Canadian company Americas Petrogas which has a shale gas block in Argentina. They are looking for financial and technological partners for exploration and production.

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