The fossil fuel revolution: Shale gas and tight oil / Революция в области ископаемого топлива: сланцевый газ и трудноизвлекаемая нефть

It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of the successful development of shale gas and tight oil to the energy economy of the United States. According to data tracked by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), by 2009, shale gas had led the United States from natural gas shortages to becoming the largest producer of natural gas in the world (USEIA, 2018). Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals constructed on the US East Coast at the start of the 21st century for energy imports were converted less than a decade later to export LNG to Europe and elsewhere. The Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian basin is now the most productive natural gas formation in the United States (Fig. I.1). <...>